Rivers fatal dog meal: Death toll rises to 11

Dog meat

WOJI in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State was yesterday thrown into confusion as the death toll from the suspected dog meat meal rose to 11.

Five persons died two days ago after consuming the meal. The increase has forced the community to announce that anyone who was at the restaurant should present himself for preventive steps to be taken.

However, a source said that the death was not caused by the dog meal, but by a local gin allegedly brought into the community from a South-West state.

Chief Brain Ogbonda said after a meeting of elders and chiefs of Woji, that the cause of the death was not the dog meat, but a local gin a visitor allegedly brought to the bar from Ogun State.

He said enquiries from those who were in the bar on Sunday revealed that all the people who drank the local gin brought in by the man from Ogun State, who claimed to be celebrating his coronation as a traditional ruler in his community, died.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Pauline Akpan, wife of one of the deceased, confirmed that his husband told him that one of his friends invited him to the dog meat restaurant in celebration of his (the friend’s) coronation.

The owner of the dog meat restaurant has been detained at Woji Police Station, while the man who brought the local gin to the bar is yet to be identified.