A middle-aged man, popularly known as Uncle Light, and his son, Miracle, have allegedly died from suspected food poisoning at Ebebe Junction in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
It was gathered that the victims were living with a woman who reportedly moved in with the man after divorcing her husband earlier this year. The woman is suspected of having poisoned the food they ate.
When The PUNCH visited the scene of the incident on Wednesday, the father and son was found lying lifeless in separate parts of the compound.
A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the woman left the house early that morning with her baby and had not returned since the incident.
He said, ‘Since the incident happened on Wednesday, we haven’t seen the woman. She left early in the morning with her baby while abandoning the man and his son here. We don’t know what they ate that made them start vomiting.
‘The man is lying inside naked; while you can see the son lying down at the gate. We need help for them to be evacuated to the hospital before they start smelling.’
When contacted, Police Public Relations, Joshua Ukandu, said he was yet to receive the official report on the matter and promised to mobilise his men to the area to ascertain what happened.
Less than an hour later, police operatives arrived at the compound with a man who identified himself as the brother of the woman in question.
He told police that his sister was ill and currently in custody.
Another resident, who also pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to talk, said, ‘I heard a loud voice in the middle of the night and I told my wife that something was happening in our neighbourhood.
‘At a point, we thought it was noise from church people doing their programme. It was early in the morning that we saw the son struggling and writhing in pain and came outside the gate.
‘He was crying for water. A friend provided him with water before he suddenly died. We are suspecting diarrhoea, but it’s for an autopsy to confirm what killed him’.
As of the time of filing this report, the two bodies have been evacuated by the police.
