Killer drink: Rivers ban sale, consumption of local gin

Following reports that about 22 persons have lost their lives after consuming a local gin popularly known as kai-kai or ogogoro, the Rivers State Government has banned the sale of the product in any part of the state.

It was learnt that the deceased died after taking the local gin, which was suspected to contain a poisonous substance, in Woji area of Obio/Akpor and Bonny Island in Bonny Local Government Area of the state.

The Department of Disease Control in the state explained that the decision to ban the sale and consumption of local gin became necessary in order to save the lives of unsuspecting members of the public who might want to consume the toxic drink and lose their lives.

Director of Disease Control in State Ministry of Health, Dr. Roland Whyte, expressed worry over the difficulty in getting samples of the dangerous gin in order to subject it to a clinical analysis.

Whyte disclosed that angry youths from Woji community had set ablaze a shop belonging to one Friday Dickson (aka Etiaba) where the poisonous gin was suspected to have been consumed.

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He pointed that officials from the State Ministry of Health had been dispatched to Woji in order to sensitise the people of the area to the dangers of consuming highly toxic local gin.

Identifying blindness and vomiting as some of the symptoms noticed in affected persons, Whyte expressed sadness that some of the deceased were buried without autopsy, adding that the situation was making medical examination difficult.

In Bonny, the spokesman of Bonny Kingdom, Mr. Simon Wilcox, said at least 17 persons died after taking a gin suspected to be poisonous.

Disclosing that the toxic drink was imported into Bonny Island, Wilcox explained that some of those who drank the local gin were lying critically ill in the hospital.

He said, “Seventeen persons have been confirmed dead. We are going to the hospital to attend to those who are lying critically ill. We need the help of World Health Organization, federal and state government agencies to assist people of Bonny Kingdom.”

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, said Dickson, the owner of the inn where an alleged toxic gin was taken by some customers, was in police custody.