The State Criminal Investigation Department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has taken over an ongoing investigation into the alleged poisoning of the Minister of Tourism, Lola Ade-John.

The tourism minister has been hospitalised at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi in Abuja.

The FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, disclosed this in an exclusive telephone interview with The Punch.

Adeh said the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, ordered the SCID to immediately take over the investigation from the Mabushi Police Division.

“The CP has ordered the Mabushi Police Division that was investigating the matter to immediately transfer it to the SCID.”

The 60-year-old was reportedly rushed to the hospital after she exhibited poisoning symptoms and was reported to have spent four days in the facility.

Ade-John recently assumed office as the first indigenous minister of Tourism after the splitting of the defunct Ministry of Information and Culture by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu into three: Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, and Ministry of Tourism.

In her welcome address, Ade-John pledged to transform the Ministry into a global appellation and to make it a significant economic earning to the Nigerian economy.

According to Freelanews, a source in the ministry, however, said the minister is responding to treatment for malaria and nothing else at an undisclosed hospital.

The source said Ade-John who just returned to the country following her appointment has been struggling to acclimatise to the Nigerian environment.

Lola Ade-John: Minister of tourism poisoned? Ministry reacts

Earlier,Freelanews reported that the federal tourism ministry dismissed media reports that Ade-John, was poisoned and hospitalised.

The assistant director of press in the ministry, Emem Mariam Ofiong, debunked this report when contacted on the status of the minister.