TheCable

Abubakar Sadiq Ibrahim, speaker of the Gombe state house of assembly, and four other lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19.

The identities of the other lawmakers are not yet known.

The cases were confirmed on Monday when results of the samples sent to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) laboratory were released.

TheCable understands that the speaker and the lawmakers have since been admitted at treatment centres in the state.

All the people who have had contact with the lawmakers are being identified and traced, a source said.

The development comes one week after Muhammad Yahaya, the governor, ordered the closure of the secretary to the state government (SSG) office and the government house clinic following the death of a director in the office of the SSG.

Shuaibu Danlamia, the deceased, tested positive for COVID-19 before his death.

After his demise, Yahaya directed all government appointees in the state to undergo COVID-19 tests.

So far, Gombe has recorded 217 cases of the disease.