Residents of Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, were gripped by fear of contracting life-threatening diseases on Saturday, as over 50 cows consumed poisonous weeds while being taken around for feeding by their owners.

Rumour quickly milled around that all  the cows which eventually died had already been slaughtered by the owners for sale in order to mitigate the loss claimed to be well over a N100 million.

Arewa Voice, however, gathered that none of the affected cows was slaughtered for sale as rumoured, as their owners are presently  appealing to the state government to assist them in mitigating the loss.

The leadership of Mandate Market had also reportedly monitored owners of the cows towards ensuring that none of the poisoned cows was slaughtered for sale  

Government officials had also quickly waded in by taking samples of the affected cows brought to the Mandate Market for laboratory tests.

Arewa Voice reliably gathered from  an eyewitness that the cattle were brought out for their normal daily grass feeding from Mandate Market to the School of Arabic and Legal Studies, where the incident occurred.

Speaking in an interview with Arewa Voice,  one of the cow owners, Olugbon, explained that they received a distress call that the cows were falling down on their way back to Mandate Market and that  40 of the affected cows had already died before he got to the scene of the incident.

Olugbo, therefore, appealed to the state government to assist them, saying the loss is too much for them to bear, given the current economic hardship in the country.

The Babaloja of Mandate Market, Alhaji Muritala Tanbaruku, while reacting to the development described it as unfortunate and called on the state, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, to assist the affected traders.

Alhaji Tanbaruku told Arewa Voice in an interview that unknown to the cattle owners, the areas where they took the animals to feed had been fumigated by the owners so as to prepare the ground for this year’s planting season.

“The cows were innocently taken to the areas which had been fumigated since November last year by those farming on the lands  who are preparing to plant this rainy season.

“So, the weeds had already been poisoned to prepare the soil for a fresh planting unknown to the cattle rearers. It was not that the cows were deliberately poisoned,” he explained.

But the state government would not wait until further damage is done to anyone or animal around the market area. In a swift move, the government  shut the Mandate Market in Ilorin and ordered immediate fumigation in a deliberate move to cleanse the place for human safety.

The government team led by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Toyosi Thomas-Adebayo and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam, swiftly visited the Mandate Market in Ilorin, which houses the abattoir for all meat sellers to activate measures to protect the public amid rumours of poisoned cow meat.  

The government immediately confiscated all the suspected meat for laboratory tests and confirmation of claims after initial engagements with the Mandate Market stakeholders.  

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Toyosi Thomas-Adebayo, in a press statement,  urged members of the public to be calm while the team tries to establish the truth about the rumoured poisoned meat. She also commended leadership of the market for their cooperation so far, adding that further information will be given as may become necessary.

Dr. Abubakar Ayinla, permanent secretary of the ministry, explained that the steps were part of the efforts to protect members of the public following the incident.