ABEOKUTA—No
fewer than four persons reportedly lost their lives, yesterday, in Ibara
Housing Estate area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, after excessive consumption of
local liquor, known as Ogogoro. A woman hawking Ogogoro drinks in Akure A woman
hawking Ogogoro drinks…File photo The seller, one Salako Taloju, a security man
that has his kiosk in front of the house of a prominent Abeokuta man, has been
arrested. It took four policemen about 15 minutes to drag Taloju, who appeared
drunk, into their vehicle. He resisted arrest, claiming innocence, saying only
three people died and that they lived around the area. He gave their names as
Baba Imeko, Baba Onwenue and Easy. He had reportedly been selling the liquor
for over 20 years. Vanguard gathered that the incident involved four persons:
three of them died on Monday, while the fourth died later at the night. Taloju,
who spoke incoherently to newsmen, said: “We have been drinking together for a
long time. I do not know why they have to accuse me now of killing them. I even
took the same drink and nothing happened to me.” Asked if he had reported the
matter to his boss, Taloju said: “Do you want to kill me? My boss has warned me
on several occasions not to drink again, but I refused to listen.” One of the
neighbours, Mrs. Kemi Adepitan, confirmed that the victims died after consuming
the liquor, saying “it is true that they died. We were at the house of one of
the victims this morning (yesterday) to console his family.” Contacted, the Police
Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, described the report as a rumour,
saying the command did not receive any report of death of anyone. He added that
police had arrested the suspect, although they could not confirm the report. He
said: “As far as we are concerned, it is a rumour. If anybody comes to complain
that a family member died, then we can confirm. “We have not seen any dead body
and nobody has complained of a dead family member. Even the suspect has been
arrested, but he was drunk and we cannot rely on his statement.”
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