How Nation’s undercover reporter busts poisonous ponmo syndicate in Lagos

It all started two weeks ago with a report on the circulation of poisonous brand of cow hide delicacy popularly called Ponmo in Lagos. The report sent shock waves across the nation. Lovers of the delicacy were hysterical and fearful.

But a few wanted more evidence to believe the shocking report. Penultimate Friday, our reporter embarked on the exciting but extremely dangerous task to finally crack the syndicate behind the nefarious act.

Residents of Igando in Lagos were fast asleep around 1.45am when the consignment arrived the warehouse in their community. The poisonous ponmo in question was from Senegal, imported by some Lebanese businessmen. The warehouse was owned by one Mrs. Animashahun, an alleged major distributor of the item in the Southwest region.

Pronto, the reporter proceeded to a hotel close to the said warehouse with a view to ascertaining the arrival of the consignment of ponmo.

Behold, at exactly 1.45 am, the trailer that loaded the item was seen pulling up at the warehouse with some men engaged to offload the consignment into the warehouse at No. 9 College Road.

Animashahun, a big distributor of the item, who was very boastful and hostile to the reporter during his first visit to the warehouse, had gone back to the community leaders with his lawyer, begging that she should be given the chance to sell her poisonous item until August ending when she would relocate her shop. This was after publication of the first report.

Seeing that her demand had met brick wall, she decided not to offload her consignment in the day time and chose to do so at the odd hours of the night when residents of the area must have slept.

When the consignment of ponmo arrived in the wee hours of the said day, it was accompanied by about seven casual labourers who offloaded it into the warehouse. Animashahun’s plan was to wait till the morning of the following Monday to inform her numerous customers to come for their goods.

So after the offloading was completed around 3:00am on that Saturday, she simply retired home for a good rest. Unfortunately for her, she had barely settled down when some officials of the Ministries of Health and Agriculture got a tip-off from our reporter that another consignment of poisonous ponmo had arrived the community.

They immediately went into action, putting in place the necessary strategy to nab the major distributor of the poisonous substance. The operation, which lasted for about 10 hours before all the consignment could be removed, was a joint effort of the State Task Force, Igando Police Command and the Ministries of Health and Agriculture officials, who forced all their professionals out into the field to confiscate the poisonous substance.

Shedding more light on the incident in a chat with our reporter, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya, said immediately he got the tip-off from a concerned member of the public, he alerted all the relevant government agencies to be on the alert and get ready to move to the location.

He said: “As soon as we received the tip-off, members of the task force, the police and all our officers went into action and we arrested about six people. The consignment of poisonous ponmo was also confiscated.

“We are going to do a lab investigation on it. This is to assure the public that our team is on top of the matter and we are doing all we could to apprehend all members of the syndicate of this poisonous ponmo.

“People should be aware that this poisonous ponmo is processed for leather, but some people converted it into food for consumption, which is criminal. When you want to process ponmo for leather, there are some chemicals you use.

“One of them is slake lime otherwise known as calcium hydroxide, which is an alkaline chemical that is also Castro genic.

“Apart from this, they also use formalin, which is used in preserving dead bodies. All these are Castro genic. People should be very careful. If they see any ponmo that is excessively big, black and hard, they should be very careful in consuming such.”Onasanya warned food vendors to be careful and vigilant.

“Anywhere they sight such ponmo, they should inform the Ministry of Agriculture or Health. This will assist us to arrest the situation. In recent times when people are talking about kidney failure, these are some of the things that cause it. Cancer is becoming problematic these days.

“We will not rest on our oars until we get to the root of the matter. We have also written a letter to the Quarantine Service. Anybody that is bringing such into the country should be properly investigated.

Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Jide Idris, who spoke with The Nation on the phone concerning the seized item last Saturday, said since the first publication by The Nation on April 27, his men, in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, went into action to save the state from imminent epidemic.

“The breakthrough was for the people,” he said. “As a government, we are accountable to the people and we are ready to let them know that we are going to be there for them. We got the notice from a reliable source and l alerted my people and the Ministry of Agriculture, and we all swooped into action.

“The people should be vigilant and be sure of the source of anything they are consuming. The government is not stopping the people from eating ponmo, but the source must be verified.  Everything we are doing is for the protection of the people so that they will not be consuming poison instead of ponmo.

Idris, however, appealed to the people not to see the action of government as discouraging them not to take ponmo, but to see it as a collective venture in order to get rid of the few bad elements in the society who because of money are selling poisonous food substances to the public

Residents of College Road will not forget in a hurry the year of agony during which Mrs. Animasahun reigned as the seller of poisonous ponmo in the area. When this reporter first visited the community early in April, the people were in a state of hopelessness and despair over the offensive odour that oozed out of Mrs. Animasahun’s warehouse, otherwise known as Mama Ibeji’s ponmo ware house.

Several steps were taken by the elders in the community to send Mama Ibeji (Animashahun) away from the vicinity but to no avail. She was powerful, ‘well connected’ and stupendously rich until last Saturday when the Lagos State Government put an end to her illegal business.

Today, the music has changed and so the dancing step. The people of College Road community are all smiles as they are no longer inhaling the offensive odour that was once their permanent companion.

Speaking on behalf of the people in the community, the Chairman, Landlords Association, Alhaji Fatai Abioye, who was all smiles, thanked the state government for coming to their rescue at a critical time.Abioye, who noted that things had changed since The Nation carried the story on April 27, added:

“l did not know that there could be any force that could remove Mama Ibeji, not to talk of disappearing into thin air,” he said.

Perhaps if there is anybody that was happiest in the community over the development, it would be Mama Tope, a co-tenant with Mama Ibeji. The window of her room was directly opposite the ponmo warehouse.

Mama Tope, who was singing and dancing when the reporter visited on Tuesday, said: ”l am the happiest person in this community today. Please help me thank government that they have taken away my sorrow.

“For the past one year, offensive odour has nearly sent me to my untimely grave if not because God loves me.”

According to her, each time she confronted the woman, it usually was a war, “because she was very arrogant and ready to dress down anybody who complained about the offensive odour emanating from her ponmo warehouse.”

She lamented that Mama Ibeji once threatened her with juju, saying that “eniyan le wa ninu oorun l’osan gangan ki otutu maa muu,” meaning:“You can be inside the sun during the hot weather and yet be feeling cold.

“I am an old woman with some of my grandchildren with me. We were always forced to close our windows and door every day, no matter how inconvenient. It was even worse during the dry season. All of us would be sweating like Christmas goat, but we could not open the window. It was such a bad experience l would not wish my enemy, not to talk of my friend,“ she regretted.

Kingsley, another co-tenant, would also not forget in a hurry what he had passed through in the house in the last one year. ”If I tell you how many times l visited the hospital, you will not believe me whereas l had been living in the house for more than a year before this woman came with this offensive odour.”

He, however, thanks God that the travails, agony and mental torture have passed. ”I thank all of you that assisted us to see the end of this drama,” he said.

Speaking to The Nation on the implication of the poisonous ponmo in a city like Lagos, an epidemiologist, Dr. Lawrence Igbintade, challenged the state government to get to the root of the matter in order to avoid imminent danger.

“Consumption of a poisonous food which is very available to the people always is a looming danger that needs to be nipped in the bud, because by the time the crisis comes, it may be too devastating.

“There should be a comprehensive laboratory test to ascertain the amount of poisonous substance in the so-called ponmo.”

Igbintade, who commended the quick response of the state government, lamented that the porous nature of the nation’s borders has turned the country into a dumping ground for all sorts of junk foods and poisonous substances, which are dropped at our backyards in the name of importation.