From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
In the past 12 days, Mr. Chukwudi Asor, a native of Obiuno village, Osumenyi, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, has been inconsolable.
On August 7, 2017, he lost his mother, wife and three children to death, which he has claimed was caused by the corn meal they had earlier consumed. The incident occurred at Obiuno, barely a year after six children of the same parents died in mysterious circumstances after a meal at Ekwulumili in the same local government area.
In a chat with Daily Sun, Asor, an artisan and breadwinner of the family, explained how he was the sole survivor of the incident. Amid tears, he narrated how he, the only son of his mother, lost his three children, wife and mother in one day.
On August 7, 2017, a day after the Ozubulu church massacre, he left home early for work, as was his practice. He did not take his breakfast that morning, as food was not ready, and he decided to eat elsewhere when he got to his place of work. He said he did not return home till 9:30 that evening, as it rained heavily all day.
“When I came back from work that evening around 9:30pm, my mother told me that the three children were sick, and my wife confirmed it. I told my mother that they would receive medication the next morning because I was too weak to do anything again that night.
“About 10:00 that night, my wife started shouting the name of Amechi repeatedly. Amechi is one of our sons. I asked her what it was and she said that the boy was dying. She said we should go to the hospital that night. But because the headlamps of my motorcycle were not good, she took the boy to the hospital on foot. She went alone.
“Later in the night, around 2:30am, my second son, Chikezie, Sixtus was his English name, began to convulse, and I had to rush him to the same hospital that his sibling was taken to. My mother even went to beg somebody to give us an ambulance. But before she could come back, I had rushed out with the boy.”
He said he was surprised that just as he was arriving at the hospital, he saw his mother coming with his first daughter in the ambulance. His three children were then hospitalised. He said it was later in the morning that the first victim, Amechi, died. Chikezie and Oluebube, the daughter, also died some moments after.
Asor said he became confused with the loss of his three children. And as if all that was not enough, his wife, who had been previously ill, also died three days later; his 70-year-old mother also passed on shortly after.
Asked whether anyone might have poisoned members of his family, Asor said he had no one in mind, insisting that he had no perceived enemy.
He informed the reporter that the corn meal was the only food in the house, adding that it was the same corn meal the family had for breakfast and lunch. He said he probably escaped death because he did not partake of the meal.
But he said his kinsmen have sworn to unravel the cause of the mystery deaths, just as he appealed to the Anambra State government for help, adding, “I am devastated.”
Asor stated that three other children were alive, as they currently live with other relations outside the village.
Reacting to the incident, chairman of Nnewi South Local Government Area, Felix Chinedu Odumegwu, an engineer, described the incident as unfortunate. He said the matter was reported to the police, adding that law enforcement agents were investigating the matter.
Deputy chairman of the local government council, Hon. Akudo Remmy Ojiego, who is from Osumenyi community, also said that what happened to the family remained a puzzle to the entire community. He described Osumenyi as a progressive and peaceful community, where the natives loved one another and were always preoccupied with developmental efforts. He said that the appropriate quarters would come to the rescue of the Asor family.
The victims are Amechi George, 14, Oluebube Favour, 10, Chikezie Sixtus, five years old, Ukamaka (mother of the children), 36, and their 70-year-old grandmother.
Police Public Relations Officer for the Anambra State command, Nkiruka Nwode, said she would get back to the reporter, but she was yet to do so at the time of this report.