Edo State Government has blamed the death of Alhaji Danjuma Garba, Special Adviser on Arewa Matters to Governor Monday Okpebholo, on medical quackery.
Garba died on January 10, 2026, after a brief illness.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health Matters, Dr. Andrew Iyamu, disclosed on Wednesday in Benin that Garba was managed by a final-year medical student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) at a private hospital in Uselu.
Iyamu made the disclosure during the monthly press briefing organised by the State Ministry of Information and Strategy.
According to him, the student had been parading himself as the family doctor of the deceased for over five years.
“A final year medical student was treating this guy. Yes, was managing him from UBTH. We caught him. I invited him to my office. He said he has been their family doctor.
“I said, shut up, what do you mean family doctor? Are you a graduate? You’re a final year medical student, you’re a student. You shouldn’t treat anyone until you get your certificate,” Iyamu said.
He said by the time he intervened to transfer Garba to a better facility, the damage was already irreversible.
“See what you have done to this man. Before I could transfer him from the hospital he was in at that Uselu area to this place, the damage has already been done. The heart was too weak to pump blood because of the kind of drugs they pumped him with. He wasn’t seeing a cardiologist,” he added.
Iyamu warned medical practitioners against operating outside their areas of specialization, describing such practice as quackery driven by greed.
“You can’t be jack of all trades. In medicine, we have sub-specialties. If it’s not your area, you give it to somebody else. People want to be jack of all trades. You don’t want the money to go outside. You want to grab everything. It is wrong. That’s quackery,” he said.
He said the Okpebholo administration has appointed monitors to check quackery and ensure compliance with medical standards.
On action taken against the medical student, Iyamu said the family of the late aide pleaded that he should be released.
“We handed him over to the family. They said, no, he’s a doctor. For more than five years, six years, this boy has been with them. A medical student. It’s wrong,” he stated.
