There is palpable tension in the ancient town of Ede in Osun State as cholera broke out in the Oke-Gada area in the town on Monday.
As a result, no fewer than three residents have been confirmed dead while three others were hospitalized.
AMILOADED gathered that the victims are are beggars that usually assemble at the spot.
According to a source said that: “it’s so unfortunate that it happened like that. A ritualist visited them on Sunday and gave them food and new mints of 500 naira. So on Monday morning, the started recording deaths. Many of them are currently receiving treatment at different hospitals in the town.
“We suspect outsiders as being behind this ugly incident. We have been living with these beggar for a long time and nothing of this has ever happened to them. It’s so unfortunate.”
A resident said, “about 12 beggars have been hospitalised after some of them died. It seems they are poisoned because we have never experienced such an issue in our community before”.
Another resident, named Dare, said, “I got to know about the issue on Monday evening, I learnt that some beggars took food from an unknown person and after that, some are dead while others were hospitalised.”
Meanwhile, when our correspondent contacted the spokesperson of the Osun State Police Command, Mrs. Yemisi Opalola, disputed the claim of food poisoning.
According to her, “The Divisional Police Officer of Ede visited the Seriki of Hausa in the community over the incident because they did not report the matter to the police. The Seriki informed him that it was a Cholera outbreak and not food poisoning.
“Three people are dead while three others are in the hospital. We are still investigating the matter.”
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