Ekiti State Government orders arrest of facemask defaulters

On Friday, the commissioner for Justice in Ekiti state ordered that all commuters that refuse to put on their facemask would be arrested.

When the operation began in the early hours of yesterday, the road safety officials and security operatives said 100 of okada riders and Danfo have refused to wear masks.

Head of operations, Olanrewaju revealed that the defaulters weren't persecuted but were granted pardon by the Government, just for that day.

He said;

"This action is not targeted at making money for the state through fines that will be imposed after trials at the special offences court, but we are trying to checkmate a lot of people against living reckless lives and to secure their health.

What we did on Monday was a warning operation and that was why we pardoned the violators. It was like a warning or amnesty which we granted to them after delaying the offenders for about six hours.

But from Tuesday, every offender arrested will be tried properly at the Special Offences court and proper punitive actions will be meted out to flouters, because the government is not ready to compromise the wellbeing of the people regarding COVID-19.

We have told commercial drivers and cyclists to always put on their face masks and other road users. They should also refrain from carrying those without face masks, because such also constitutes an offence under COVID-19 guidelines law.”