Though the COVID-19 Testing Centre in Kano State has been shut down since Wednesday, the death of an economic icon, Prof. Ibrahim Ayagi; professor of physiology, Prof. Aliyu Abdullahi Umar Dikko; the Regional Manager of First Bank in Kano, Abdullahi Lawal; erstwhile Managing Director (MD) of the defunct Continental Merchant Bank; and Mallam Musa Ahmad Tijjani, ex-Editor of Leadership Sunday and Triumph newspapers, together with four other illustrious personalities who have died after brief illness not necessarily linked to the deadly pandemic, has thrown the ancient city into shock.
It was gathered that not a few people suspect that the eminent personalities, who just died, might have succumbed to the strange illness since there was no evidence of their being tested for Coronavirus since the Covid-19 Testing Centre in Kano has been shut down with no definite date for resumption of testing in the most populous state in Nigeria.
The demise of the personalities, PRNigeria gathered, occurred within a space of 24 hours. They all died between Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, 2020.
The other high-profile personalities who passed on include Alh. Adam Iliyasu Dal, a former Chairman of the Kano State Civil Service Commission; Nasiru Maikano Bichi; Dr. Musa Umar Gwarzo; and Ustaz Dahiru Rabiu, who is a former Grand Khadi of Kano State. The late Prof. Ayagi was a Commissioner for Economic Development in the State from 1975-1978, just as he was also a former Director-General of Kano Foundation from 1987-1990. Ayagi, who is also the proprietor of Hassan Ibrahim Gwarzo College in Kano, died on Saturday, after a protracted illness at the age 80.
Prof. Aliyu Umar Dikko was former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) at the Bayero University Kano (BUK). He was involved in the opening of three faculties of Medicine / Basic Medical Sciences in Bayero University, Kaduna State University and Yusuf Maitama Sule University.
As for Lawal, PRNigeria gathered that the First Bank Regional Manager in Kano died from a suspected case of COVID-19. Family sources said immediately the late Banker took ill, he was first put on admission at a private clinic from where he was referred to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
Sources said the late Lawal, who was in his early 50, was rushed to a private clinic after he suffered high fever, intermittent cough, and respiratory hiccups without getting medical care, before he gave up the ghost.
In an audio recording, the mother-in-law to the banker alleged that the negligence of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Kano, led to the death of her son-in-law, as she cried out that her daughter and grandchildren be taken in for tests to confirm if they have contracted the dreaded COVID-19.
