THE Kano State Multi-Agency Committee on Illicit Drugs and Related Offences has arrested a former chairman of Rogo Local Government Area over alleged involvement in the illegal sale and administration of fentanyl injections to young people.
News Point Nigeria reports that the chairman of the committee, Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, disclosed this in a video with a local media organisation on Monday, as SolaceBase reports.
Rimingado said the suspect was arrested after the committee conducted an undercover operation to verify allegations that he was selling and administering the substance to young people.
He explained that the investigation began after the committee arrested a young man whose hand had allegedly deteriorated severely as a result of injections.
“We arrested a person in Kano who was selling injectable drugs, and he is a former local government chairman. We suspected that he was administering the drug to people and causing them harm,” Rimingado said.
According to him, the young man arrested by the committee identified the former council chairman as the person from whom he obtained the substance and explained how the transactions were conducted.
Rimingado said the suspect would collect money from buyers and ask them to leave before returning with the drug concealed in an envelope, sometimes together with a syringe.
He said the committee subsequently gave the young man money and instructed him to return to the suspect while its operatives followed him and monitored the transaction from a distance.
“When he went there, he gave the man the money and was told to go and come back. When he returned, the suspect had put the drug in an envelope. As he was about to give it to him, our operatives moved in and arrested him,” he said.
The committee chairman said the suspect initially denied knowing where he obtained the substance, claiming that another person supplied it to him from Sabon Gari Market.
Rimingado, however, said the committee had obtained what it considered sufficient evidence, including the substance allegedly found in the suspect’s possession, the victim’s account and the suspect’s own statement.
“First, we have strong evidence because we found the substance in his possession. Secondly, we have the victim. Thirdly, he himself admitted that he was buying it, although not through the proper channel. So, everything we wanted to establish was confirmed,” he said.
Rimingado said the young man who was allegedly using the substance claimed that he had spent more than N2 million purchasing it over a period of two years.
He described the claim as disturbing, saying it further demonstrated the seriousness of the alleged drug abuse and the need for authorities to intervene.
Unlicensed Medical Facility Shut
The committee chairman also disclosed that the suspect’s medical facility had been shut down after the authorities established that it was not properly licensed.
He said the committee contacted the relevant Kano State agency responsible for regulating private hospitals, which confirmed that the facility did not have a valid licence.
According to him, the suspect had previously operated a hospital in Dorayi but allegedly closed it when it became due for licence renewal and relocated to Bechi under a different location.
Rimingado said the suspect also told the committee that he was a nurse but could not produce a valid nursing licence.
“He said he was a nurse. When we asked for his nursing licence, he did not have one. His licence had not been renewed since 1985,” Rimingado alleged.
He further alleged that the suspect had been performing caesarean sections despite being told that he lacked the required authority and professional qualification to do so.
Rimingado said the suspect was charged under Section 249 of the Penal Code of Kano State, which, according to him, covers offences involving the administration of intoxicating or harmful substances to another person.
He said the committee had obtained statements and other evidence that would be presented before the court.
“The boy himself sustained injuries. In his statement, he told us that he initially came with an injury to his teeth and the suspect injected him. He later returned with another injury to his leg, and the suspect injected him again,” he said.
Rimingado maintained that the suspect’s denial that administering the substance was a crime would not prevent the authorities from prosecuting him.
“He can deny that what he was doing was a crime, but we will establish the offence with strong evidence before the court,” he said.
The committee chairman confirmed that the suspect had already been taken to court and remanded in prison custody, adding that the authorities would continue with the prosecution.
Rimingado: Anyone Destroying Other People’s Children Will Face Prosecution
He described the suspect as a man in his 60s and a former local government chairman with about 30 children, expressing concern that someone of his age and experience could allegedly be involved in supplying harmful substances to younger people.
“The boy is someone to be pitied. Imagine a man in his 60s giving drugs to someone in his 20s. There is something seriously wrong with that,” Rimingado said.
Rimingado identified the substance allegedly being sold and administered as fentanyl.
He also said the person allegedly supplying the fentanyl to the former local government chairman was originally from Ibbi but operates at Sabon Gari Market in Kano State.
The committee chairman warned that the authorities would continue to pursue anyone found to be involved in activities that expose young people to harmful drugs.
“Wallahi, anyone we arrest who has a hand in destroying other people’s children, we will prosecute that person, whoever he may be,” he said.
Rimingado said the state government established the multi-agency committee because of the challenges posed by drug abuse and other harmful practices, adding that enforcement operations would continue across Kano State.