By O’star Eze

Five members of the family of Chukwudebere of Ndeke-Umuatuegwu in Okija, Ihiala LGA of Anambra State have died mysteriously, after allegedly eating poisoned meal.

While many believe Mr. Albert Chukwudebere, his wife, Nwanne and their three children died of suspected food poisoning, family sources have linked their tragic end to handiwork of fetish relatives and native doctor.

Meanwhile, Anambra state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Nkiru Nwode, who confirmed the incident said investigations on the death were ongoing while waiting for an autopsy report.

Orient Daily gathered that the tragedy struck the family when Mrs. Nwanne Chukwudebere, who was the last to die, served her now deceased, Mr. Albert

Chukwudebere, a commercial motorcyclist and her three-year-old child, dinner of poisoned food. She later added the same food to their left-over food and ate with her two remaining children only to wake up the next morning to find her three-year-old and husband writhing in spasm of puke and pains.

According to Mr. Ordinand Pius Ukachukwu, a neighbour to the deceased, “the three-year-old child died the next morning after vomiting blood and the man (husband) thereafter began vomiting blood and was rushed to the hospital where he also died.

“The wife with the other two children (girls) also fell sick later and were rushed to hospital where they all died and the corpses were brought back to their home to the only surviving brother’s widow and his 95yrs old mother who did not eat the food.

According to the traumatized neighbor, the family was shattered by the tragic twist to what was supposed to be a normal dinner. “The old woman is left desolate because the deceased family were the ones feeding her and have been taking her to distant relatives to be catered for.”

Orient Daily learnt that the remains of the five-member family were temporarily left unattended lying on the passage because they have no close relative or ally in the village who would have organized their evacuation for burial. Sympathizers were visiting the compound to catch a glimpse of the tragic family, before the corpses were eventually taken to the mortuary.

An indigene of the area, Sir Ignatius Okonkwo said the cause of death of the five persons was yet to be ascertained, adding that all the efforts made to prevail on the authorities of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, where the bodies were first deposited to conduct an autopsy on the dead persons did not yield fruit.

One of the family’s in law, who was among those that came to the family was said to have taken the bodies to mortuary, but when stories started making the rounds that they might have been poisoned, he brought the five dead bodies back to their house where they were lined up in the open for several hours before some members of the family decided to return them to the mortuary.

Orient Daily gathered that three distant relations of the diseased persons were invited by the police and they were being interrogated at the Okija Police Station.

Mysterious death:

Orient Daily investigations however revealed that this is not the first time Chukwudebere family has witnessed incidents of mysterious death. Last year, Andrew, the elder brother of the now deceased Albert Chukwudebere reportedly died mysteriously later his second wife passed on, leaving his first barren wife, aged mother and

his brother (Albert).

One of the deceased’s relative who craved anonymity traced the tragic developments to a family feud involving two brothers now late over a building their late elder brother left behind. “Their eldest brother died some time ago leaving a bungalow behind. The new eldest brother, Andrew, wanted to take over the building while his younger brother insisted they must share the building equally and even went ahead to report Andrew to an Oracle (arusi).

“Meanwhile Andrew had two wives, the first barren and the second pregnant. When he died mysteriously and his second wife also died after three days, the kindred went to consult the oracle and what Albert did was disclosed. The matter was resolved then by the traditional ruler and kinsmen and Albert was living in peace with Andrew’s surviving wife until this happened,” he narrated.

A native doctor (name withheld) was also mentioned as being involved with the deceased family before they died.

Orient Daily source disclosed that when the deceased family fell sick, they all were taken to the native doctor for treatment and that it was when the condition became critical that they were rushed to the hospital where they gave up the ghost.

“The native doctor brought back the corpse of the woman and her two daughters after he found out they had died under his care,” one of the relatives alleged.

On the other hand, Ukachukwu family where the nonagenarian was married from insisted that the deceased’s kindreds were making up cover stories and that the barren widow whose husband died last year and who they claim is presently at large, should be brought in for questioning by the police.

“She was in the house when the tragedy struck and as we speak, she is nowhere to be found. When we came to the house, we found the old woman, our sister, lying helplessly in her own urine and stool and we had to take her away to Ihiala, the home of her sister. Her daughter-in-law, the widow, was nowhere to be found,” the source claimed.

The source also alleged that the barren was known to be diabolical

Orient Daily also gathered that Late Mr Albert Chukwudebere has three daughters and two sons all grown and living away from home with their family to survive him.

The traditional ruler of Okija community, Igwe Emeka Okezie who described the incident as strange enjoined the people to remain calm as he had contacted the state government and the police who have promised to conduct an autopsy on the corpses to ascertain the actual cause of death.

Confirming the incident was the Anambra Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Nkiruka Nwode who however said that she was yet to be fully briefed on the incident.

Source: https://orientdailynews.com/okija-meal-trage…e-die-after-meal/
Seun Lalasticlala mynd44

Rest in peace family.

1month later in nollywood..."D last supA"