TWO persons have been confirmed dead after drinking tea prepared with local leaf popularly called, Zakami, at a wedding ceremony, weekend, in Sheka, Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano State.
The ward head of the area, Usman Musa Zakari, confirmed this to journalists who visited the area yesterday.
This was contrary to unconfirmed reports from the area that put the figure of persons who lost their lives at seven or more.
Zakari gave names of two victims as Mubarak Bala, also known as Diga and Ibrahim Khalil.
According to him, “It is true that the incident happened. It happened when the persons drank a tea prepared with a local leaf called Zakami and a combination of other drugs. Two persons died and eight others were hospitalised.
“Although, there are different versions of the stories being peddled, but I delegated persons who went on a fact-finding and what we gathered was only two persons lost their lives. Someone told me four lost their lives and I asked him to take me to the houses but he later told me that the figure was hearsay.
“There are other eight persons who were hospitalised after drinking from the tea but they have all been discharged and going about with their day-to-day activities.”
Contacted, the spokesperson of Kano State Police Command, SP Abdullahi Haruna, said no formal report was made to the police division of the area but promised to make enquiry and give an update on the incident.