A couple, Sulaiman Idris, 28-year-old and his wife, 20-year-old wife, Maimuna Haliru, were found dead on their matrimonial bed in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State.
The state police spokesperson, Abdullahi Haruna-Kiyawa, who disclosed this in a statement in Kano on Wednesday, said the couple are believed to have died of suffocation from charcoal fumes.
Haruna-Kiyawa said, “We received a report on Jan. 3, at about 9:00 p.m. from Kwa Village in Dawakin Tofa LGA that a couple was discovered not to have come out of its matrimonial home since it was last seen on Jan. 2 at about 11:00 p.m.
“When the grandmother of Idris forced the door open, she discovered the couple motionless on the matrimonial bed, with smoke odour pervading the room.
“On receipt of the report, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Mr Mamman Dauda, directed a team of detectives led by CSP Ahmed Hamza, DPO Dawakin Tofa Division to proceed to the scene.
“The bodies of the victims were removed from the scene and rushed to Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano where a medical doctor confirmed them dead.”
The police spokesman said that preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased couple lit a charcoal fire to warm the room due to cold weather.
“They locked up and got suffocated by the smoke that emanated from the burning charcoal burning while fast asleep,” he said.
He said investigation on the incident was still in progress.
The PPRO advised the people of the state to be careful while using fire from charcoal, urging them to always take safety measures, because harmattan season was associated with high risk of fire outbreaks.