UMUAHIA—The
rustic village of Itaja-Obohia, Olokoro, Umuahia council area of Abia State,
was, weekend, thrown into mourning as a man and his two sons died mysteriously
less than 24 hours after giving out his daughter in marriage. The man,
identified as Mr. Okechukwu Osoagbakwu, and his two sons died a night after his
daughter’s traditional marriage. It was gathered from a source that the
deceased’s wife and their little son returned to Umuahia, where they reside,
after the ceremony, while the husband and the two sons stayed back to tidy up
the house before returning to their base.
The
source said the newly-married daughter was said to have put several calls
across to her father and brothers without any of them picking the calls. She
was said to have rushed back to their house in Olokoro, where she noticed that
the entrance doors to the house were still locked, prompting her to solicit the
assistance of neighbours, who forced one of the doors open only to see her
father and brothers dead with blood still gushing out from their mouths.
Reacting
to the incident, a village head from Umuonuzo, a neighbouring village, Chief
Chukwuemeka Nwosu, described the incident as “sad and unfortunate,” adding that
the incident has thrown the entire community in a sober mood. He called on the
Police to carry out autopsy to ascertain the cause of “this strange death.” “We
are mourning a tragic death. Before this tragedy, we have four corpses in the
mortuary, but this tragedy involved a father and his two sons, who died after
the marriage rites of his daughter,” he lamented.
In
his reaction, the Chairman of Umuahia South council, Mr. Obioma Ezeogbulafor,
described the incident as an unfortunate one and prayed God to grant their
souls eternal peace. Also, Chairman, Umuahia South Council of Traditional
Rulers, Eze Godfrey Onwuka, said: “It is really a shocker to all of us. We have
not seen this type of thing before.We don’t know yet whether it is generator
fumes that killed them or it is poison. “They have been taken away by the
Police to hospital for autopsy and possibly to a mortuary. “After the
hospital’s investigations, we will know the cause of their death. It is really
painful.”
Contacted,
Abia State Police Commissioner, Anthony Ogbizi, said he was not aware of the
incident as it has not been brought to his attention.
Source: Vanguardngr