Last October, a family with six members from Amakwa, in the Ozubulu community of Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Anambra State, succumbed to food poisoning. IKENNA OBIANERI The community was visited by a representative before the burial scheduled for November 29, 2022. They reported that the community is still reeling from the tragedy one year later.
Death is an inevitable end but the one that wiped away a family of six in Amakwa, a community in Ozubulu town, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, is not the type one should wish for even one’s enemy.
The shock and sadness that erupted last week when the tragic news about Augustine Nwokedi’s death, Josephine Nwokedi, their four children and their wife, was met with in the media.
However, many people don’t know that the incident actually occurred October 8th 2021.
The poster, which has the photographs of the six deceased, was headlined: “Painful Exit of One Family.”
It read: “The entire family of the late Chief Joseph A. Nwokedi (Ezennadike) of (Umuifeduba) in Umuomukwe Amakwa Ozubulu Ekwusugo LGA of Anambra State, regret to announce the passing away of our beloved brother, wife, sons and daughter, whose death occurred on October 8, 2022, after taking their dinner.”
This ‘unconscious’ error in date, therefore, brought painful freshness to the tragedy.
Amakwa is a remote village located in Ozubulu. It is several miles from Ekwusigo, the headquarter of the local government.
Our correspondent was sent to search the community last week and discovered that the Nwokedis’ death has unfortunately become an identification symbol for the community.
“Oh! That community where a whole family was wiped off,” is the response a first-timer visiting will get from transporters and residents of neighbouring communities at the mention of “Amakwa”.
The tragic events that took place over a decade ago are still fresh in the minds of those living in the area.
Our correspondent was told that the family members died on the morning of October 8, 2021, after having a dinner of corn meal the night before.
According to the head of the family, an autopsy was ordered by police and confirmed that food poisoning was the cause of death.
But the community is still puzzled over the source of the cornmeal. People also wonder: What could possibly have poisoned such a simple family?
The man, who was 41 when he died, was a commercial motorcycle operator. His 39-year-old wife was a seamstress. Their four children — three boys and a girl — were between the ages of three and 12.
They were described as a peaceful family.
A village elder said that a curse was placed on anyone who poisons a family because it was considered an abomination within the community.
When our correspondent visited the community and the home of the deceased, he met the head of the Nwokedi family, who identified himself as Ikebude Nwokedi.
Saturday Punch is told by the family head the details surrounding the six-member family’s death.
According to Ikebude the deceased ate corn meal for dinner on the night before going to bed. However, they woke up in the morning vomiting so they were all taken to the hospital.
The elder said that three children died in hospital. Next came the other child, and then the father followed.
Ikebude disproved the earlier report that victims died at their home. Their bodies were discovered by community members after they had broken down the doors to their houses.
According to the family’s head, the case had been reported to the police. The case was transferred to Awka’s Homicide Section of State Criminal Investigations Department for further investigation.
He stated that the SCID performed an autopsy and concluded that the family had died from food poisoning due to the corn meal they ate the night before.
“The source of the corn meal and the reason for the ‘food poisoning’ still remains a mystery to both the family members and the community,” Ikebude said.
The family head said efforts were made by family members to get information from the victims before they gave up the ghost “but they were too unconscious to even muster a word and unfortunately, they passed on few days after.”
He regretted that his family spent more than N3m on both the funeral and autopsy.
He also blamed hospital officials for not reacting quickly to the initial arrival of the deceased at their facility.
Ikebule, who spoke in Igbo language, said, “I am the senior brother of the deceased and the head of the family. My brother and his wife, as well as all his children, mysteriously died on October 8, 2021. This was not 2022.
“It was the printer who designed the burial poster of the deceased that made an error by putting 2022 on the poster instead of 2021, thereby making it look as if it was a fresh incident.
“Although, the children have long been buried, we are making preparations for the burial of my late brother and his wife.
“On the night before their death, they ate ‘ini okan’ (corn meal). The mystery is that nobody knows where or how the meal was prepared. It’s so tragic that it had to happen this way.
“My late brother and his wife were easygoing people, who never made trouble with anybody. So, we don’t know who might have poisoned them or if it was from the way they prepared the meal. Only God knows the exact cause.
“The case was reported to the police and transferred to the Homicide Section, State CID, Awka. They requested that an autopsy be performed on the bodies to determine the cause of death.
“A team of pathologists were contacted from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, where an autopsy/toxicology test was conducted on the corpse of one of the deceased persons and the result sent to the state CID, Awka.
“We got the photocopies of the result and a team of professionals were able to break down the medical terminologies and explain the cause of the death of my brother and his family to us.
“The incident was investigated but no arrest was made as no one knows the source of the meal they ate that night, where it was bought from or how it was got.”
While speaking further from a corner of the deceased’s compound, which truly appeared deserted, Ikebude added that the deceased would have been buried long ago, but the burial was delayed by the formalities of going to announce the death of his late brother’s wife to her family members in Umuahia.
According to him, the family of the wife received the news of their daughter’s death badly.
“My late brother’s wife was from Umuahia in Abia State. The shock news was not something they took lightly. Some members of her community threatened to take their daughter with them. It took many visits to their community and dialogue with them before frayed nerves subsided and they agreed to set a date for their burial. The funeral programme will commence on November 29, 2022.”
The younger brother of the deceased who wanted anonymity lamented that his family had been through so much since the sad incident, and that he didn’t want it to continue. He blamed the printer’s error for reawakening the pains of the sad incident.
“We have gone through a lot since this incident happened and we would not want it to continue. It was a sad incident that the family and community want to forget. If not for the printer’s error, we wanted to just give them a quiet burial without any noise,” he added.
Also, a community leader, who identified herself as Mrs Nkechi Okeke, described the incident as embarrassing and a taboo to the community, adding that the issue of food poisoning is a “great sacrilege” in the community.
Okeke said the Ozubulu elders had, through their gods, laid a “curse” on the culprits.
“The incident happened in 2021. The incident was very sad for the community. On October 8, we saw the bodies of the family members who had died. The community has kept their deaths a mystery. Therefore, it was cursed to anyone who did such a vile act.
“The family were an easygoing people who never wanted any trouble. We don’t know why such would happen to them. While God is the only one who knows, we believe that if any man had any involvement in their death, they will most likely be exposed.
“It was the first time such a thing would happen in our community and we are not taking it lightly. It is still shocking to us. In our community, it is considered a sin to poison someone through food poisoning. The community placed curses on those who committed such a wicked act.
“Right now, our president-general travelled and the community does not have a monarch yet, we are still going to meet to take a final position on the matter,” Okeke added.
Tochukwu Ikenga (state police spokesperson) said that he wasn’t aware of the incident because it occurred before he was transferred to Anambra State.