A senator from Jigawa has alleged that fasting, heat and ill health is responsible for current high death rate in Jigawa state and not COVID-19 as being speculated in the mainstream media.
Senator Ibrahim Hadejia representing Jigawa North said COVID-19 was not responsible for the 49 deaths discovered by state government committee.
See Also: Wike Personally Supervises Demolition Of 2 Hotels For Flouting His Orders
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard Newspaper, Senator Ibrahim said the deaths in Jigawa involved elderly people with Ill Health who stubbornly decided to fast against medical advice.
“A five-man committee which has a World Health Organisation, WHO, member found only 46 deaths throughout Jigawa. That committee was set up by the governor when he heard the news. The committee went to Hadejia, looking for the veracity of the so-called 100 deaths.
“They did a verbal post-mortem. You know once somebody dies, our people bury him immediately. So, the team asked questions from the relatives of the dead and if there was strong suspicion, they had them tested as well. For now, all the tests done of everybody around the dead, including children and wives, that is over 70 percent tests done, have all come back negative.
“That says a lot. Now there is [also a] malaria problem in Hadejia, also the temperature around there has been unusually high, 241 degrees, and our people are all fasting. All the people reported dead were elderly with health challenges. Even when you tell them not to fast, they bluntly refused.
“The fasting, the heat, coupled with the health status, affected the elders and they died.”
Jigawa has 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far.