The sleepy agrarian Amufu community in Edumoga, Okpokwu Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, has been enveloped by sorrow and uncertainty in recent days after four children belonging to the same parents died within three days.
The deceased are four of the five children of one Emmanuel Ochayi and his wife. The devastating and heartbreaking incident has left the couple in an utter state of agony and grief as they try to come to terms with the incomprehensible, life-altering tragedy.
The dead kids are identified as children: Abah Ochayi, 12; Veronica Ochayi, seven; Comfort Ochayi, six; and Margaret, 3. The children, who died between August 20 and 23, 2026, started, according to the father, showing some physical discomfort and later became ill after consuming a drink offered to them by their uncle. Emmanuel is now demanding an open, transparent and thorough investigation to ascertain the real cause of the children’s deaths.
Narrating the tragic incident, Ochayi disclosed he was not around when the occurrence that would later culminate in the death of his children took place, adding that his wife was at home with the children. According to him, his children’s uncle, who was returning from an event, stopped in front of his house and gave an open bottle of soft drink to the children. “I do not know if he tasted it before giving it to them,” Ochayi said.
According to him, the children started showing serious health complications three days after consuming the drink. “After taking the drink, my four children became ill after three days. The first one was so sick that we rushed him to the hospital, but shortly afterwards, he died. I did not understand when the second one also started feeling discomfort. We were trying to save him, but he also died. We brought the corpses of the two home for burial. Suddenly, the remaining two also started feeling sick. By the next day, I lost the third one, and shortly after, the fourth died,” he said.
The grief-stricken father said he is distraught and shattered by the sudden and mysterious deaths of his four children, noting that he would have committed suicide if society did not frown against such an act.
“I was completely overwhelmed. If not because it is forbidden for one to kill himself, I would have taken my life because I simply cannot understand why my four children would die in this manner,” he said.
Ochai stated that the prime suspect is the person alleged to have given the children the drink, prompting members of the community to demand that he take an oath to prove his innocence. He claimed that the man refused, while his son reportedly argued that the Bible forbids people from taking oaths.
The bereaved father also recounted a scary and dramatic incident during a community gathering over the deaths, saying a corpse was carried on the head during the proceedings.
“I asked my late child to go after whoever did this to them, even if it was me. At that instance, the man we were suspecting fell to the ground, and his plastic chair broke into pieces,” he alleged,
“He refused to take the oath to exonerate himself, but I still maintain that my children died from the poisoned drink they were given. I demand justice for my four children,” he told the Vanguard.
He said the pain and heartbreak of losing his innocent children was unbearable for them and that he would have lost all his children if the fifth and only surviving child were living with him, adding that he escaped death because he was residing with someone in Lagos.
“I simply cannot understand why my innocent children would be killed in this manner. The pain is too much for my wife and me. Our children did not do anything to anybody to warrant their lives being cut short in this manner. I am left with one child who is in far-away Lagos, where he lives with someone. If he were at home, they would have killed him also,” he said.
Community demand for thorough investigation and justice
Amid the tension and concern the incident has generated, some persons in the community under the umbrella of the Edumoga Youths Association have called on the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Cletus Nwadiogbu, to weigh in on the matter.
In a petition written to the commissioner, the association described the death of the children as a “gruesome act” that is “highly suspicious and unnatural”, demanding a meticulous and comprehensive investigation into the deaths.
In the petition, the youths described the circumstances surrounding the deaths as “highly suspicious and unnatural,” noting that the four children reportedly died within days of one another after consuming drinks allegedly given to them.
The association asked the police to immediately investigate the deaths, invite and interrogate the person allegedly connected with the incident, and conduct post-mortem and toxicology examinations to establish the actual cause of death.
It also charged the police to apprehend and interrogate the key suspect in the matter, arrest and prosecute anyone found culpable and provide sufficient protection for the bereaved family and witnesses during the investigation.
