How retiree died after beer drinking competition in Abuja
Aretiree, Danjuma Zuru, died after engaging in a beer drinking contest with a friend in Abuja. This happened last month at a beer parlour.
gathered that the late Zuru had retired from a construction job he had held for many years. Residents said he was given a good takehome package which enabled him to buy two commercial vehicles and another for private use.
“Unfortunately, he resorted to a reckless lifestyle after acquiring all these,” a resident who craved anonymity said.
When visited the beer parlour where the drinking contest took place, customers confirmed that Zuru was indeed a habitual customer.
A close friend to the deceased said Zuru had once competed with a man who later died. “We did not realise his turn will come when he would compete and also die too,” he said.
The friend also explained that the competition was usually done with local brew like ogogoro. “The beer parlour owner usually brought the alcoholic drink in a jerry can. She would continuously fill the drink in their cups until one person outdid the other. This was how he was unable to go home on this particular day and had to be carried.
“Beer drinking contest is common in many drinking houses in Jiwa and Gwagwa. Even during the past fasting period there was one person who lost his life in like manner.”
When visited late Zuru’s house in Unguwar Hausawa at Jiwa, people affirmed that the deceased’s family, his wife and three of his children had returned to their home town in Kebbi State. Their eldest who remained in Jiwa was not available at the house at the time.
The village head of Unguwar Hausawa in Jiwa, Alhaji Isa Usman Baraden Jiwa, said late Zuru was a religious man who contributed to the community. “But Allah has a way of testing people. Since he got his pay-off after retirement,he began to have problems and got involved in drinking alcohol and adultery. He continued this way until he lost all he had. We did what we could for him. He would sometimes go to the community head’s place to seek for financial help and he would be given money.”
But Alhaji Usman said he had no knowledge about the deceased’s involvement in a drinking contest. He pointed out that he knew about how Zuru fell in the rain and remained in a ditch all through the night. In the morning he was discovered and taken home in a wheel barrow. Two days later he was announced dead.