The Sokoto State Government has confirmed the death of 33 children following an outbreak of cerebrospinal meningitis in parts of the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Faruk Abubakar, spoke on Wednesday during an advocacy meeting with district heads on Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin in Children (SARMAAN) and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE).

The meeting was organised by the state’s Primary Healthcare Development Agency in collaboration with Sightsavers and the Chigari Foundation.

According to the commissioner, 256 suspected cases have been recorded across eight local government areas of the state since the disease resurfaced about a month ago.

Residents of Kurawa village in Sabon Birni LGA had raised the alarm over a suspected outbreak of meningitis, which they said mostly affected children and teenagers.

Report also claimed the situation had worsened, with about two to three deaths recorded daily, mostly among people aged between two and 20 years.

They noted that many of the victims died before the illness was properly diagnosed, adding that residents were later advised to avoid sleeping in enclosed rooms due to the prevailing heat conditions.

Residents described symptoms including unconsciousness, severe neck pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, high fever and, in some cases, foaming from the mouth, all consistent with meningitis.

During the Wednesday meeting, Dr Abubakar confirmed the outbreak, saying Sabon Birni tops the list with 63 cases, followed by Wamakko (60), Shagari (51), Tambuwal (33), and Dange Shuni (26). Kebbe recorded 16 cases, while Bodinga, Gada, and Kware reported two, one, and two cases, respectively.

The health commissioner noted that most fatalities occurred within communities before patients were taken to health facilities.

He attributed this to delayed health-seeking behaviour, often driven by misconceptions that the illness has spiritual causes rather than being a medical emergency.

To contain the outbreak, the state government, in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), established isolation centres at general hospitals in Dogo Daji and Tambuwal, with separate wards for male and female patients.

He added that while only about 20 samples have tested positive for meningitis so far, patients admitted early have responded well to treatment, with no recent deaths recorded since intensified interventions began.

Report also mentioned that firsthand accounts from the Dogo Daji isolation centre suggest that the situation remains critical. A nursing staff member at the facility, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, was quoted as saying that the centre currently has 22 patients on admission.

“We are discharging those who have fully recovered. Even today, we discharged two patients, but they were immediately replaced as we received two new cases,” the staff member said.

He explained that the centre operates two wards—one for male patients and another for females and paediatric cases—but noted that increasing admissions may soon necessitate expansion.

“The cases are increasing. In fact, we are considering opening an additional ward to separate female and paediatric patients,” he added.

The nurse also highlighted the level of support available at the facility, stating that adequate medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, health promoters, and hygiene experts, are on the ground.

He emphasised that free treatment is provided, with patients receiving medications, feeding, and even transportation support once their cases are confirmed.

“Patients do not pay for anything. Everything is provided free, including sanitary pads,” he said.

The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has said it has suspended, with immediate effect, the chairman of its Board of Trustees, Alhaji Bashir M. Dalhatu, over alleged financial misconduct and constitutional breaches.

The sealed ACF national headquarters remained firmly under police control.

Police operatives had on Tuesday sealed the ACF national headquarters located at Sokoto Road, Kaduna.

However, the Kaduna State Police Command denied the report, insisting that its officers were deployed to the ACF premises to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order between two rival factions within the organisation.

Meanwhile, the ACF said the decision suspending the Board of Trustees chairman was reached at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the forum, presided over by its chairman, Mike Osuman (SAN), with members drawn from 18 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Announcing Dalhatu’s suspension, ACF spokesperson Mohammed Baba, alongside the chairman of the Ethics and Conduct Committee, Prof. Mohammed Jamo, said the decision was based on allegations of financial misappropriation.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting held at an undisclosed venue in Kaduna, Muhammad-Baba said delegates from about 18 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory successfully convened the meeting after relocating from the ACF’s sealed headquarters to another venue in Kaduna.

He said the NEC condemned what it described as the unlawful restriction of access to its headquarters, insisting that it amounted to interference with the right to freedom of association and the organisation’s internal affairs.

According to him, the NEC maintained that there was no leadership crisis within the ACF.

The ACF spokesperson also said the meeting deliberated on the report of an Ethics and Conduct Committee set up to investigate a petition on financial management and governance practices within the forum.

Muhammad-Baba said the committee’s preliminary findings raised serious concerns requiring further investigation, particularly regarding due process and financial administration.

Based on the recommendations, the NEC passed a vote of no confidence in the BoT chairman, Dalhatu, and approved his immediate suspension pending further investigation.

He further revealed that the National Executive Committee of the forum also directed an immediate forensic audit of all financial activities of the ACF, including its Endowment Fund, with instructions to recover any funds found to have been improperly managed.

According to him, the NEC also reaffirmed its confidence in the current National Working Committee led by the forum’s chairman, Mike Mamman Osuman, SAN, and maintained the position of the secretary-general pending any constitutional review process.

The NEC also condemned the alleged police sealing-off of its headquarters, describing it as an unacceptable interference with its operations and constitutional rights.

Chairman of the ACF Ethics and Conduct Committee, Prof. Nuhu Mohammad Jamo, on his part, corroborated the explanation that the panel acted on a petition alleging financial and administrative misconduct against the BoT chairman.

Jamo recalled that the committee invited the affected official to respond to the allegations within 48 hours, but the official did not respond.

“Regrettably, most of our findings, if not all, indicate violations of the constitutional provisions of the ACF,” he said.

Earlier, before his suspension, ACF BoT chairman, Alhaji Bashir M. Dalhatu, in a statement on Wednesday, accused ACF secretary-general, Murtala Aliyu, of refusing to vacate his position after the expiration of his tenure.

Dalhatu further claimed that Aliyu’s refusal to leave was the cause of the crisis in the forum’s leadership.

According to him, “Recently, the Board of Trustees, in line with its duty of ensuring compliance with the provisions of the forum’s Constitution — ACF Constitution Section 24 — including respect for term limits and smooth leadership succession, took several steps which did not seem to have pleased some people, especially Mallam Murtala Aliyu, the secretary-general. As a result, he has devoted a great deal of time and energy to pulling down the entire ACF edifice.

“That, accordingly, these positions have, from 10 March 2026, become vacant. However, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, the Secretary-General, was allowed, at his request, to work on his handover notes and to conclude other departure formalities not later than Friday, 15 May 2026. But in a baffling twist of events, Murtala Aliyu, who, contrary to the ACF Constitution, is in his seventh year as Secretary-General, declared his rejection of all these terms of settlement. He is, interestingly, the only person among the four officials whose tenure ended who refuses to step down.”

Dalhatu, however, denied misappropriating the forum’s funds.

“There has, for instance, been no financial infraction committed whatsoever at the level of the BoT. Every single kobo collected as donations into the ACF Endowment Fund has been deposited safely in the bank; far away from the reach of the secretariat, the NEC, and, for that matter, the BoT,” he explained.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday convicted a former Minister of Power, Mr Saleh Mamman, of 12 counts of fraud and money laundering, charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice James Omotosho, said it was satisfied that the anti-graft agency had successfully established the former Minister’s culpability beyond reasonable doubt.

The court convicted him on all grounds of the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/273/2024.

Mamman, who served in the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was found complicit in the illegal diversion of public funds totalling about ₦33.8 billion.

The court found that he made a cash payment of $655,700 (equivalent to ₦200 million) for landed property in Abuja, without recourse to a financial institution.

He was also found guilty of criminal breach of trust in relation to funds released by the federal government for the Mambilla and Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant projects.

The court noted that most of the funds were siphoned through Bureau de Change operators (BDCs), who converted the money into foreign currencies and handed it over to the defendant.

“The evidence of the prosecution is overwhelming as against the scanty and almost absent defence of the defendant.

“The defendant did not offer any credible evidence to rebut the prosecution’s case,” Justice Omotosho held.

The trial judge decried that the defendant, as Minister of Power, was not bothered about leaving a lasting legacy.

“Rather than creating a legacy to tackle the epileptic power supply in the country, the defendant was living large at the expense of ordinary citizen
“Little wonder that Nigerians have remained in darkness till today,” the judge added.

Meanwhile, the defendant was absent when he was convicted by the court.

Consequently, the court deferred his sentence, even as the EFCC applied for a warrant of arrest to be issued against him.

A lawyer, Mr. Mohammed Ahmed, who announced his appearance for the defendant, told the court that since last Tuesday when the notice of the scheduled judgment was issued, the defendant’s whereabouts had remained unknown.

He said the defendant’s personal assistant later disclosed that he was sick.

The defence lawyer’s spirited efforts to persuade the court to defer the judgment to a later date failed.

The trial judge referenced news items indicating that the defendant had been actively involved in political activities, having purchased a form to contest the governorship election in Taraba State.

On his part, the EFCC’s lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, urged the court to proceed with the judgment, insisting there was no reasonable justification for the defendant’s absence.

“My Lord should go ahead. If the judgment is in his favour, we know what to do. If it is against him, we also know what to do,” the prosecution counsel added.

Mamman was arrested in 2021, about four months after he was removed from office by ex-President Buhari.

The EFCC produced 17 witnesses who testified before the court and tendered 43 exhibits before closing its case.

The agency, among other things, alleged that he conspired with ministry staff to divert about ₦22bn meant for the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects.

The anti-graft agency said its investigations revealed that the suspects used the funds to acquire choice assets, both within and outside the country.