The Kebbi State Commissioner for Information, Yakubu Ahmed, says the video showing patients inside a flooded hospital in the state is old footage.
Ahmed said this during an interview on Arise TV on Saturday 12 june, he however, said the video showing a patient at Kangiwa General Hospital lying on a bare metal bed without a mattress is true.
Recall, videos were posted by Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa, a journalist in the state.
Although, the videos attracted public outrage and renewed concerns over the state of healthcare facilities in Kebbi.
After the videos were published, there were reports that the journalist had been arrested.
Subsequently, Nasir Idris, governor of Kebbi, suspended Yunusa Musa-Ismail, the state’s commissioner for health, over alleged negligence of duty.
During the interview, when asked about the whereabouts of the journalist, the Kebbi commissioner said he believes that the journalist is currently at home.
He also maintained that neither the Kebbi government nor the Kebbi governor ordered the arrest of anyone in the state.
“I want to believe that he (Kangiwa) is at home. I want to believe so,” he said.
“In the first place, the news making the rounds in the country that a journalist was arrested for taking pictures, it is not true.
“As far as the Kebbi state government is concerned, no one is under detention on the orders of the state government or the Kebbi governor.
“The pictures and videos that were shown and on which people are justifiably worried are old pictures, especially the video showing a hospital that is waterlogged. It is an old video before the coming of this administration. “The picture of the patient without mattress is correct.”
He added that the current administration in the state inherited public infrastructural decay.
