For Dr. Innocent Dumebi Okonkwo of Aguleri community, Anambra state, July 5, was indeed a black Saturday, not only for him but to his entire kindred.
It was the day his mother, niece and a laborer took an alleged poisoned food which subsequently led to their death.
How it happened
Narrating the ugly incident to our reporter, Dr. Okonkwo told WITHIN NIGERIA that “on Saturday, July 5, 2025, I came back to my house around 8 pm and realized my mom was lying down helplessly in her parlor.
“She was already in a coma. I lifted her into my car and drove her to New Life Hospital Aguleri, accompanied by my niece, Onyinye. In fact, my two nieces were staying with her; one is 9, and the other is 12 years old. The older one was holding her neck while we left the 9-year-old behind.
“When we got to the hospital, she was rushed to oxygen. I put the Onyinye who accompanied me back in an Okada motorcycle to go back and stay with her sister.
“These girls lost their parents at the ages of 3 months and 3 years, respectively. So, I am their Dad.
“I was in the hospital with my mom till 5:30 am before rushing back home to inspect the children.
“When I came back, the elderly one, Onyine, was holding her stomach, crying and shouting. I rushed inside their room and saw the 9-year-old lying helplessly on top of the food she vomited, positioned like a dead person but breathing loudly.”
Explaining how he passed through the valley of death in the thick of the incident, Dr. Okonkwo, a PhD holder in Mass Communication and Media Director of Ogene Media Team, OMT explained that “I picked her up and started running, abandoning my car key. Somebody helped me pick up my car key, and another woman rushed to assist me.
“I commanded everyone to move into the car while giving first aid, accelerating fast. I nearly lost my two phones because I dropped them on my mom’s car roof while making the struggle.”
How the hospital treated them
“When we got to New Life Hospital Aguleri, Dr Obi put her in oxygen immediately and started treating her. She was still breathing rapidly, but her eyes were not rolling. I asked the nurses to admit the elderly one Onyine as well. They did, and the elderly one was still rolling, shouting “tummy.”
“In the evening of Sunday, my mom’s health improved slightly, but Precious Nma, the one in a coma, showed no improvement.
“Onyinye’s health didn’t improve either, although she was never in a coma. At midnight, my mom’s health worsened, and the doctor decided to test them for food poisoning.
“The doctor suspected food poisoning and recommended moving them to teaching hospital Amaku. I ordered an ambulance, but due to payment protocols, it would take a long time to arrive. Considering Precious’s condition, I decided to move the other two first while my younger brother Solomon handled Precious.
“At Amaku Hospital, I was impressed by the performance of the doctors in the children’s ward; Dr Mrs Okafor Chimuanya and Dr Obiechine Ezechukwu. They fought hard to save the two kids while my mom was dying helplessly in the adult emergency ward without much concern from the health workers.
“The children’s doctors confirmed food poisoning and recommended a specific drug, but it was not available in Amaku. We later got an alternative, but none of the children could swallow drugs, so we needed an injection. But the only available place to get the injection was Onitsha. But due to Monday sit-at-home and time, they could not send it.
“While the treatments were ongoing, my mom was almost abandoned in the adult emergency ward. The children’s doctor said if we had gotten the correct injection, my mom would have needed it too.
“I had to call the Traditional Ruler of Aguleri, HRM EZE Udo, to help make some contacts. He called the MD of the hospital, who promised to do something but nothing happened after some hours. Subsequently, I redilled my Igwe”s phone number and gave to a Doctor in the emergency ward. After my Igwe spoke to the doctor on duty, he started attending to my mom. That was when he started shouting at the nurse for not placing my Mom on Oxygen. The nurses were even avoiding to touch her. In fact I lifted her from my car to the bed when she was admitted without any help from the staff.
“I wanted to move my Mom out of the hospital but I was advised to leave her because of the long protocol and undertaking which according to them would take the whole night.
“However, the first aid drugs recommended by the Doctors in the children’s ward couldn’t be administered to my Mom due to her condition. She could not swallow it. So the injection would have still been the best. By 9 pm, we were still waiting for an ambulance to move her to the female ward.
“I begged to take her to the ward myself but they refused citing their policy, that she must be moved in ambulance. The ambulance arrived at 10 pm, and a lot needed to be done before her turn.
“Subsequently, there was another issue of lack of oxygen to be used at the ward when she is moved there. So, they demanded for N4000 which I dropped immediately. They drove out the ambulance again and returned after 30 minutes and after some issues with oxygen, they finally moved her to the ward. A woman from my town who was advising me told me to follow up at ward, else they would abandon her.
“In the ward, I begged the staff to attend to my mom, and they asked me to buy some drugs.
“The pharmacy staff was reluctant due to a provocation from someone. Even when my pleas touched the people in the queue, the pharmacist was not moved. I saw myself crying like a baby, “please attend to me first my Mom and my daughter are in a coma”.
“As the night progressed, my mom’s condition worsened, she was breathing so loud and eventually, she passed away. Just two hours later, Precious stopped breathing too. We didn’t want Onyinye to know, so we quickly prepared the corpses for transportation home.
“Onyinye’s condition has improved; We got the recommended injection from a pharmacist who came from Umueze yesterday. She ate little without vomiting and was never in a coma, so there’s hope for her recovery.”
“The parents of these children died when they were 3 months and 3 years old, respectively. My sister was their mother, she died at 38 years and I adopted them fully.
“Precious was brilliant, scoring distinctions in all her subjects and receiving double promotion last year Smart Star, one of the best schools in our community.
“This is a little bit of what I passed through from Saturday, 5th July till 9th July 2025.
“As I woke up in the morning of yesterday, four indigenes of Abakiliki walked into my compound. I thought they came to console us because my mom usually hires them for farm work. My mother eats the same food as her laborers; she doesn’t discriminate. Surprisingly, they complained that one of their brothers who ate my mother’s food on the same date had died, and they were preparing to move his corpse home.
“I lost my hardworking mom at 71 years, lost Precious at 9 years, and a poor laborer from Ebonyi state.“
Appreciating the efforts of good friends taking the deceased to the hospital, Dr. Okonkwo said, “I respectfully thank everyone who showed me concern over the deaths of my lovely mom and my little niece.
“I am sorry for not picking up some of your calls because the pressure was immense on me, coupled with the fact that my Gmail account was recently hacked, and I lost all my old contacts, making it hard for me to know numbers to return their calls.”
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