COVID-19: Northern travelers allegedly hiding inside trucks arrested in Osun 

Some Northern travelers on Wednesday were arrested while entering Osun State.

The passengers were caught while hiding in trucks carrying essential goods despite the ban on inter-state travels.

Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Adeyanju Binuyo confirmed this while speaking to reporters in the state on Wednesday.

He said they would immediately be sent back to their home states, adding that most of the passengers were from Zamfara State.

Binuyo said, “We are aware of a huge influx of non-Osun residents into the state, especially from Zamfara. They were coming majorly through the Ondo axis, via trucks that are carrying food materials purportedly to be sold around the South West.

“The intelligence that we’ve gathered in the last few days is such that they usually have two or a maximum of three people attached to a truck to assist in discharging the goods. But now we sometimes have ten of them hidden among the goods.

“Sometimes the trucks would stop and drop some of them off along Ife express road where they are received by their fellow northerners already living in the state. The government has been receiving a lot of such reports, most notably now that Amotekun has been set up.

According to him, this poses a great danger, especially at a time when the government is trying everything to avoid community transmission of COVID-19.

“This is not the time to be reckless and allow safety or security breaches at our borders.

“Only food, medical, beverages, petroleum, agriculture and construction supply trucks are exempted, but they cannot have more than three persons per truck,” he added.