Key points
- The death toll from a suspected poisonous herbal drink in Ondo State has risen to 49, with about 170 people affected, including eight deaths in Irele Local Government Area.
- Police have arrested a suspected producer and 14 others accused of breaking a local ban on herbal drink sales; the substance is suspected to contain methanol, and no charges have been announced.
- State and local medical teams have been deployed to affected communities, and officials say the situation in Odigbo has subsided.
Ondo State Commissioner for Health Banji Ajaka has confirmed that deaths linked to a suspected poisonous herbal drink have risen to 49, with about 170 people affected as the crisis spreads beyond the communities where it began.
The outbreak first surfaced in Araromi-Obu and Odigbo, two communities in Odigbo Local Government Area, where early reports put the toll at 24. It climbed to 27, then 29, and by Wednesday stood at 49.
Irele Local Government Area is now the center of concern. Ajaka said eight people had died there as of Tuesday night, and health teams were already on the ground.
“As we are now, Irele is where we have a serious issue,” he said, adding that the 170 figure covers both those admitted to hospital and those who have died.
Medical teams deployed as toll grows
The commissioner said the state government had stepped up its response to keep the crisis from reaching other local government areas, sending medical officials and other stakeholders into affected communities as soon as reports emerged. “We are always fast about it,” he said.
Odigbo council chairman Taiwo Adegoroye, who earlier reported eight deaths in Araromi-Obu and 16 in Odigbo, said the situation in his area had subsided after state and local government medical teams intervened.
Officials have pointed to a toxic alcohol as the likely cause. Ajaka attributed the illness to the consumption of ethanol, while police say the drinks are suspected to contain methanol, a related but far more dangerous industrial alcohol. Samples have been sent for forensic analysis to establish exactly what the victims drank.
Suspected producer in custody
The Ondo State Police Command has arrested a man identified as Oloruntoba Babatunde, known locally as “Meko,” on suspicion of producing the herbal liquid.
Police spokesman Abayomi Jimoh said in a statement that Babatunde was assisting investigators and that substances suspected to be methanol had been recovered from him.
Fourteen other people were arrested for allegedly selling or consuming herbal drinks in defiance of a ban imposed by the local government. The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Akure, and no charges have been announced.
Jimoh said the bodies of the dead were undergoing medical and forensic procedures and that the command had contained the situation in Araromi-Obu through sustained security, medical and investigative work. Further updates will follow as the investigation progresses, he said.
Reports from the ground suggest some residents are still buying the drinks despite the ban.
