Death toll in mosque attack in Nigeria rises to 86

Eighty-six people were killed in a double suicide bombing in northeast Nigeria, gravediggers said.

The death toll given on Wednesday was far higher than the 27 people police said had died.

The Adamawa police command told Al Jazeera an additional 58 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack in the town of Mubi, which has been blamed on Boko Haram.

A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a mosque during afternoon prayers. As worshippers fled, a second bomber exploded a device about 200 metres away.

Local gravediggers at the town's only cemetery said they buried 86 bodies.

"We buried 76 people yesterday [Tuesday]," one told AFP news agency, asking to remain anonymous.

At 3pm on Wednesday, 10 more bodies were brought in and buried, he added. "These people died overnight from injuries, obviously."

Another gravedigger, who also asked that his name not be used, supported the account. "We hope we are done with the burials," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the blasts bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, the armed group that has waged a deadly campaign of violence in Africa's most populous country since 2009, and often deploys suicide bombers in crowded places.

The last time so many people were killed in an attack blamed on Boko Haram was in January 2016, when at least 85 people lost their lives in Dalori, on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajoon on Wednesday told security agencies to beef up security in Mubi and its surrounding areas, "especially markets and places of worship".

"This desecration of a place of worship by criminals is tragic and condemnable," he said in an emailed statement.

Boko Haram?

It was the second time in six months that dozens had been killed in an attack on a Mubi mosque.

Last November, a teenage suicide bomber attacked worshippers as they gathered for morning prayers, killing at least 50 people in one of the region's deadliest assaults in years.

Residents were still in shock after the deadly bombings on Tuesday.

"I think this is the worst attack Mubi has ever witnessed. The human loss is unimaginable," said resident Muhammad Hamidu.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in the Boko Haram insurgency that began in 2009, which has also forced some two million to flee their homes.

Boko Haram held territory in Adamawa state in 2014, but troops pushed the group out in early 2015 and Mubi was relatively peaceful until the November 2017 attack.

Al Jazeera

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Nigeria bans codein cough syrup due to addictive properties

Nigeria has announced a ban on the production and import of cough syrup containing codeine after a BBC investigation into its role in an addiction epidemic.

A health ministry spokesman told the BBC remaining stocks in shops could be sold with a prescription.

The BBC investigation showed the syrup being sold on the black market to be used by young Nigerians to get high.

It recorded a number of pharmaceutical figures selling the drug illegally.

The joint probe by the BBC's new investigation unit, Africa Eye, and BBC Pidgin prompted a swift response from people across the country, including Nigeria's first lady, Aisha Buhari, who said in an Instagram post she was "deeply saddened"by the rise of the problem, especially in the north of Nigeria.

"I call on all security agencies, lawmakers, judiciary, drug manufacturers, civil society, regulators, teachers, parents, neighbours and you to take this as a personal war and halt the menace," she added.

However, Olajide Oshundun, the Ministry of Health's assistant director of information, said the ban was a result of months of work by a committee, which submitted a report into the widespread abuse of the medication on Tuesday.

While existing stocks could be sold, manufacturers in Nigeria "have been told by federal government not to use codeine in cough syrup", Mr Oshundun told the BBC.

"Those that want to import the substance, it is been banned now. It is completely banned," he added.

Employee fired

The cough syrup was legal, but it was against the law to sell it to people without a doctor's prescription or those who did not have a pharmaceutical licence.

The Nigerian Senate estimates that as many as three million bottles of codeine syrup are drunk every single day in just two states, Kano and Jigawa.

The BBC's undercover team caught one executive for Emzor Pharmaceuticals boasting he could sell "one million cartons" in a week on the black market.

But Emzor told the BBC its representative only had access to a very limited amount of its brand of syrup, Emzolyn with codeine, and could not sell large quantities illegally.

Emzor released a statement on Facebook emphasising its commitment to the proper "handling, production, storing and distribution of products containing codeine".

It has suspended all distribution pending a "full and thorough investigation" and has fired the employee involved.


"We hope the findings of the documentary will shed further light on the extent and impact of the illicit trade and consumption of codeine," the statement said. "We hope that full stakeholder engagement will result in impactful action against the abuse, smuggling and faking of drugs on the continent."

Codeine cough syrup - the scale of the problem

Codeine is a pain killer but also an addictive opioid. Taken in excess, it can cause schizophrenia and organ failure.

Codeine syrup is commonly mixed with soft drinks and often consumed by students.

The codeine is imported, but the syrup is made in Nigeria by more than 20 pharmaceutical companies.

 
Nigeria's drug enforcement agency is fighting this epidemic. In a recent raid, it seized 24,000 bottles of codeine syrup from a single lorry in Katsina.

Codeine syrup addiction is a problem across Africa, with reports of addiction in Kenya, Ghana, Niger, and Chad.

In 2016, India banned multiple brands of codeine cough syrup following reports of addition.

BBC

24 dead in double bomb blasts in Nigeria mosque

At least 24 people were killed Tuesday in twin bomb blasts in a mosque in northeast Nigeria.
The incident occurred in the town of Mubi in Adamawa State at 1 p.m. local time as worshippers gathered for afternoon prayers, police said.

A spokesman for the Adamawa State police said the bombers were positioned in different locations around the mosque.

"The first bomber went into the mosque while they were praying and detonated his explosives, killing four people," Othman Abubakar said.

As worshippers fled the mosque, the second bomber, who was a few hundred meters away, also detonated his device, killing another 20 people, Abubakar said. 

"This desecration of a place of worship by criminals is tragic and condemnable," said a five-part statement on the verified Twitter account for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's office. 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was working with emergency services to make sure victims were being cared for, according to the tweets.

The government has ordered security services to bolster their numbers in Mubi and other places, particularly around markets and places of worship.

The bombings come just a day after suicide bombers killed four people in Maiduguri, Borno State.
It also comes a day after Buhari met Trump at the White House and had discussions about the security challenges the country faces, including the nearly decadelong insurgency by Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast of the country.

CNN

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