Eighteen foreigners who travelled into the country through the Okerete borders ‘illegally’ have been intercepted at Irewole area in Saki.
OYOINSIGHT.COM exclusively gathered this from an highly placed sources, who pleaded anonymity.
The foreigners, who were from Togo, were on their to Orile-Owu in Osun State when they were interceptd by officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
On getting wind of the news that security agencies had intercepted some foreigners, the Caretaker Chairman of Wewe LCDA, Hon. Adeleke Tajudeen, popularly known as Continental, put a call across to the immigration office in Saki where the ‘illegal’ immigrants were moved to.
According to the source, the chairman then informed the deputy head of the COVID-19 taskforce in Oyo State, Professor Temitope Alonge, who, based on the current guidelines in the state, ordered that the togolese should be quarantined immediately before the collection of their samples for COVID-19 test.
The council, OYOINSIGHT.COM later learnt, allegedly ordered the immediate deportation of these foreigners through the Okerete border.
Efforts to get the reaction of the council chairman were not successful as at press time.
The decision of the authorities, according to the source, is based on the fact that the Isolation centre for the Oke-Ogun region is yet to commence work about three weeks after the Governor of the state, Engr. Seyi Makinde announced commencement of work at the facility.
OYOINSIGHT.COM had earlier exclusively reported how the Contractor handling the project of the isolation center refused to release the keys to the facility due to some issues with the state government.
The source explained that the concern of the people is that “why would they order them to be followed to Okerete border without testing them to know whether have COVID-19 or not? Is this not the same border that was supposed to be locked? How sure are we that they won’t find their way back again?”
The source stressed that between the moment that these foreigners were intercepted and when they were taken to the immigration officer, they had contact with a couple of people in the town and some of them even went to a restaurant to eat.
Four of the foreigners, OYOINSIGHT.COM gathered, were nursing babies.
This newspaper also understands that these foreigners were in the country for farming activities.
As of the time of writing this report, these foreigners are still at the immigration office in the town.
