wire press (Guardian) quoting Ondo state health / police
Nigeria methanol brew: almost 50 dead in Ondo, ~100 ill
At least 48 people are dead and more than 100 others ill in southern Nigeria’s Ondo State after drinking a locally brewed alcohol suspected to contain methanol, officials told reporters Thursday.
Key facts
- Toll (Guardian / officials)
- At least 48 dead · more than 100 others ill / receiving treatment after consuming locally brewed alcohol suspected to contain methanol
- Place
- Odigbo and Irele local government areas, Ondo State
- Official voice
- Banji Ajaka, Ondo state commissioner for health — cases in those LGAs; organ damage (kidneys, eyes, brain) depending on quantity (AP via Guardian)
- Police
- Ondo police spokesperson Abayomi Jimoh — 15 people arrested, including one allegedly involved in production of substances suspected to contain methanol
- Local suspicion
- Popular herbal high-alcohol drink known as “Monkey Tail” possibly mixed with methanol (AP via Guardian)
- Regulatory color
- NAFDAC enforcing nationwide ban on alcohol in sachets / small plastic containers
- Live
- Desk uses Guardian’s ≥48 stamp — headline “almost 50” is framing. See live Ondo health HUD for later totals.
at least 48
Ondo state health officials via The Guardian, 18 Sep 2026
Note
Guardian, September 18: Ondo’s health commissioner stamps at least 48 dead and 100-plus ill after a local brew suspected to hold methanol in Odigbo and Irele. Police say fifteen arrested. Locals point at “Monkey Tail.” Desk boards the official ≥48 — not a new lab assay published in the piece.
Attribution: The Guardian — “Almost 50 dead in Nigeria after drinking alcohol suspected to contain methanol,” 18 Sep 2026.
Why it matters
Nearly fifty dead from a village brew is the informal-alcohol panel: cheap, poorly regulated, and now stamped methanol by the health commissioner while police round up fifteen people. NAFDAC’s sachet ban sits in the same story as the body bags.
Sources
Official data. Live values go to the HUD / source product.