President Muhammadu Buhari’s top aides have contracted COVID-19 in a renewed outbreak of the virus inside Nigeria’s seat of power.
Some of the presidential aides who tested positive on Saturday include the President’s Aide-de-camp (ADC), Yusuf Dodo; Chief Security Officer (CSO), Aliyu Musa, and the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
Premium Times reported that the their results were confirmed positive during the week.
Another top official affected is Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, according to the newspaper.
These officials, however, are not seriously affected by the virus because they are fully vaccinated, it was learned.
“I have no confirmation of the cases you mentioned, but yes I have been afflicted by the mild variant of the COVID-19. I felt okay from the beginning, maybe because one had received all three jabs, and right now, I feel 100 per cent. I just finished my hour-long running exercise,” Shehu was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
He explained that “but the strange thing about this ailment is that it is the scientists, not you, that will say you are okay. Right now, I’m taking my prescriptions and isolating, and would go back for a test to ascertain if the virus is still here or it has left me. Thanks for your goodwill.”
Buhari on Tuesday received his COVID-19 booster Pfizer Biontech vaccine.
The mass testing at the Presidential Villa was necessitated by the coronavirus fourth wave of Omicron.
Last week, First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, had directed all her staff to proceed on leave until further notice.
