Kano probes bizarre deaths

• Four Katsina LGs locked down as 12 test positive
• 50 inmates pardoned in Kebbi

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has directed thorough investigation to ascertain the cause of strange deaths in Kano State.No fewer than 40 corpses have reportedly been buried in Dandolo cemetery, Dala Council, since the declaration of lockdown in the state, against the usual three to five burials daily, The Guardian gathered.

At Kofar Mozuga Cemetery, also in the metropolis, the number corpses brought for burial daily hit 10, a development begging for serious concern, a resident, Aminu Abubakar told The Guardian.

Reacting to the development, Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, who acknowledged the strange deaths, told journalists that government had swung into action to assess the matter.

Although Garba disagreed that the sudden rise in the case of death in Kano was related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), he noted that Governor Ganduje had directed the state’s ministry of health to investigate it.

Director, Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Professor Isa Sadiq, said research had not linked the deaths with COVID-19.
In Katsina State, four councils (Katsina, Batagarawa, Daura and Dutsinma) have been locked down, after 12 people tested positive for COVID-19.

While eight, including the index case who died over two weeks ago, tested positive for the disease in Daura, two others had returned positive in Dutsinma, and two more in Katsina metropolitan area.

The Daura and Dutsinma lockdown had commenced before now, while that of Katsina and Batagarawa began on Tuesday by 7a.m. Though no case of the disease has been reported in Batagarawa, the state government nonetheless decided to also lock down the area due to its proximity to the metropolitan area.

Governor Aminu Masari said the lockdown was to ensure the disease did not spread, and to allow for contact cases to be traced.

Following the Federal Government’s directives to de-congest correctional centres across the nation and protect suspects from COVID-19, the Federal Government has pardoned about 50 prisoners in Kebbi State.

Announcing the release of the inmates on behalf of Governor Abubakar Bagudu at the Arugungu correctional centre, the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Mohammed Ambursa, said that the exercise was planned by the Federal Government to decongest the inmates and curb the spread of the virus.

The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Justice Ramatu Guluma, thanked the federal and state governments for deciding to decongest the correction centres across the country, adding that it would go a long way in assisting the society.