Four persons have lost their lives while one person is hospitalised as a result of food poisoning in Mopa, the headquarters of Mopamuro LGA of Kogi State.
All the victims are from same family in Mopa town.
The family of five was said to have ate flour meal (White Amala) and Okro soup, which led to the death of the father and three children while the mother is said to be in a critical condition in an undisclosed medical facility.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the deceased head of the family, Mr. Tunde Motilewa, who was a farmer, was said to have harvested cassava and processed it into a flour.
A youth leader in the community, Comrade Sunday Adeola Simeon, who narrated the incident, said: “The incident is so ugly and disheartening. The family prepared a meal on Thursday night and they started falling ill after eating the food. One of them died on Friday morning and the other members of the family were taken to the hospital after complaining of severe stomach pain.”
Simeon added that two of them died later on Saturday while the fourth person died at the midnight.
He further disclosed that two of the deceased have been buried while the remaining two were in the morgue.
While speaking with LEADERSHIP correspondent, the President of Mopa Welfare Society, Mr. Samuel Elere, said: “The manifestation looks like food poisoning but we have to wait for autopsy report. The body of the man had been deposited in Mopa Mortuary and it will be transfered to Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja for Autopsy.”
Elere added that, “we have informed the Police and they are involved in the investigation and I’m sure we will get to the root of the matter.”
The Elulu of Mopa, HRM Julius Joledo, who spoke through the Oba of Iloke-Mopa, HRH (Engr.) David Ajolore, said: “It’s a very bad time for us completely as a community and we have never witnessed such a thing before. Every family in this town is currently mourning and we are praying to God never to allow us witness this type of evil again.
The royal father advise citizens to be calm as efforts are being made to unravel the mystery behind the incident.”
Oba Joledo warned that the people of the community should be careful with statements that might instigate crisis as the government was already involved in the investigation process.
When contacted, the executive chairman of Mopamuro local government council, Hon. Moses Sunday David, expressed sadness in what he described as heartbreaking and unfortunate.
The council boss said that the entire community and the the Local Government Area have been thrown into mourning.
His words: “It is sad that we lost four out of the five members of the family with the mother responding to treatment in the hospital. Preliminary investigations suggest that the trouble started after the family’s last meal together. Samples of the remnants of the flour have been taken for laboratory examinations.
“We shall see that the matter is properly investigated by relevant security and Health Institutions in a way to unravel the probable cause of the unfortunate incident.”
