ONDO NIGERIA:Twenty-nine people are dead. Sixty more are in hospital beds. And police in Ondo State say they have their man.Oloruntoba Babatunde, known on the streets as “Meko,” was picked up after reports linked at least 29 deaths and roughly 60 hospitalisations to herbal drinks allegedly brewed in his hands. He was not alone. Fourteen others were also arrested, accused of selling and drinking the banned concoctions despite an active government order forbidding it.
The tragedy unfolded in Araromi-Obu and surrounding communities in Odigbo Local Government Area. Young people started dying. Fast. Nobody could say why, at first.
Now the police think they know.
Police spokesperson DSP Abayomi Jimoh said Babatunde is suspected of producing substances believed to contain methanol, a toxic industrial chemical that has no business anywhere near a drinking cup. Samples recovered from him have already been shipped off for forensic testing.
This is where the story gets grim. Methanol poisoning does not announce itself politely. It creeps in through blurred vision, then blindness. Then organ failure. Then death. Victims often think they are just badly drunk, until it is too late to reverse course.
The bodies of the deceased are currently undergoing medical and forensic procedures, with autopsy results expected to pin down the actual cause of death with scientific certainty. Until those results land, police are treading carefully, insisting on confirmation before pointing fingers with full force.
But the street-level response has already begun.
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Commissioner of Police Felix Ohagwu has ordered sustained enforcement action against anyone producing, distributing, or selling unapproved and potentially dangerous alcoholic substances across the state. Health teams have moved into the affected communities too. A significant number of youths from the area have been taken to the Odigbo Local Government medical facility for assessment, testing, and treatment.
Fourteen arrests. Twenty-nine graves. One suspect now facing the weight of an investigation that could reshape how Nigeria polices informal alcohol production.
The forensic report has not landed yet. When it does, Araromi-Obu will finally get an answer nobody there wanted to ask for.
