Controversy, confusion trail mysterious death of four women in Enugu community

• Mother, daughter, two others die mysteriously in their sleep in Nsukka, Enugu state
• Sources suspect food poisoning as police recover their corpse for autopsy
• Traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Felix Ugwu says they are dumbfounded by the incident

It is still difficult to know what to call what happened in Amaeze kindred, Owerre Nsukka community in Nsukka local government area of Enugu state following the mysterious death of four women.

WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that these four women went to sleep on Saturday, August 31 but couldn’t wake up again.

According to our findings, only a little boy who slept in the same room with them was alive even as he was still unconscious, receiving treatment at undisclosed hospital in the university town.

Our source who spoke under the condition of anonymity narrated that “ Aunty Mabel Asadu, her granddaughter, Amanda and Mama Chijioke and their Mother went to sleep on Saturday but couldn’t wake up on Sunday.”

Asked if they ate any local food to suspect if has been poisoned by any of their neighbourhood, the source told our reporter, that “it is very difficult to know exactly what happened to these four women. We are not suspecting anybody at this moment, but we think that their mysterious is not ordinary. Somebody else must have engineered their death. These four victims, a woman, her daughter, and two others were said to have gone to bed after having their meals last night(Saturday)  only to die in their sleep.”

On whether such incident has happened in the community before, the source explained that “mysterious death is common in many communities in Nigeria, our own not all that different. But at this magnitude, we have not experienced it. It is totally strange to us.”

In any case, the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Felix Emeka Ugwu, while confirming the incident, said that the community was yet to recover from the shock of the incident.

Narrating further, the royal father explained that one of the victims identified as Mama Chijioke Amaeze, had brought her ailing mother into her house and had been taking care of her before the mysterious incident which also claimed her life, that of her mother, her sister, and two daughter.

By and large, Igwe Ugwu added that even though operatives from Nigeria Police Force, Nsukka Police Division, had taken the victims to the hospital for autopsy and investigation, the community had resolved to go spiritual to unravel the cause of the incident.

“Yes, it has been reported to my palace that a family of five that slept in their house last Saturday, four died in their sleep while the surviving one was rushed to hospital and is responding to treatment.

“My community has been restless since this incident happened. We have not witnessed anything like this in the history of this community.

“We will collaborate with security agencies in their investigations to unravel exactly what could have led to this tragedy,” he said.

Also, a senior Police officer attached to Nsukka Police Area Command who pleaded anonymity confirmed the incident and said that the four lifeless bodies have been deposited in a mortuary in Nsukka town adding that investigations have started to unravel circumstances surrounding the incident.