Kano Committee Arrests Ex-Council Chairman Over Alleged Fentanyl Sales

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 sale and administration of fentanyl injections to young people.

The Chairman of the committee, Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, disclosed this in a video interview with a local media organisation on Monday.

Rimingado said the suspect was arrested following an undercover operation conducted by the committee to verify allegations that he was selling and administering the substance to young people.

He explained that the investigation commenced after the committee arrested a young man whose hand was allegedly severely damaged as a result of drug injections.

According to him, the young man identified the former council chairman as the person from whom he obtained the substance.

The committee chairman said operatives provided the young man with money and instructed him to return to the suspect, while security personnel followed and monitored the transaction from a distance.

He said the suspect collected the money and asked the buyer to leave before returning with the alleged drug concealed in an envelope, sometimes alongside a syringe.

Rimingado said operatives moved in and arrested the suspect as he was about to hand over the substance.

He added that the suspect initially denied knowing the source of the drug, claiming that another person supplied it to him from Sabon Gari Market.

He, however, said the committee had obtained sufficient evidence, including the substance allegedly recovered from the suspect, the victim’s account and the suspect’s own statement. Rimingado said the suspect had already been taken to court and remanded in prison custody, stressing that his denial would not prevent prosecution.

Rimingado identified the substance allegedly being sold and administered as fentanyl and said the person suspected of supplying it to the former council chairman was originally from Ibbi but operated at Sabon Gari Market in Kano.

He described the suspect as a man in his 60s and a former local government chairman, expressing concern that a person of such age and experience could allegedly be involved in supplying harmful substances to younger people.

The chairman warned that the committee would continue to pursue anyone found to be involved in activities capable of exposing young people to harmful drugs, regardless of their status.

He said the Kano State Government established the multi-agency committee to tackle drug abuse and other harmful practices, assuring that enforcement operations would continue across the state.