Tafida Abubakar Ila, one of the emirs of the newly created emirates by Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje, at the height of his rift with Muhammadu San
Tafida Abubakar Ila, one of the emirs of the newly created emirates by Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje, at the height of his rift with Muhammadu Sanusi, whom he eventually deposed as the emir of Kano, is dead.
The emir of Rano who was 74 years old died a day after he was admitted to the hospital over an unknown ailment. The Rano Emirate Council earlier confirmed that the Emir was sick but not infected with COVID-19.
Abubakar Ila fell ill on Friday and was taken to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital but was referred to Nassarawa Specialist Hospital due to lack of oxygen. The real cause of the emir’s death is unknown but it happened at a time when the state is battling unusual deaths.
Kano has been hit by a wave of deaths since it recorded its index COVID-19 case in April.
Sabitu Shuaibu, deputy coordinator of the task force on COVID-19, had reportedly said 640 persons died in the state within one week. The spike in deaths had made many residents panic, with rumours making the rounds that they are from COVID-19 complications. But the government dismissed the rumour, attributing the deaths to diabetes, malaria and hypertension.
President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a two-week lockdown and a probe of the deaths. The Kano state government and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) later decided on verbal autopsy to ascertain the cause of the unusual deaths.
Verbal autopsy is a method of gathering information about symptoms and circumstances that led to the death of an individual in order to determine the probable cause of death in cases where there was no medical record or formal medical attention given.
Kano, which recorded its first case of the disease about three weeks ago, now has 311 confirmed cases, making it the second worst-hit state.
