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By Adebowale Johnson
For the family of Mr Ignatius Ikeze, a pastor from Neke Akpani Autonomous Community in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, these are certainly not the best of times. In fact, the family is weeping in the valley of tears following the death of Ignatius’ younger brother, Barnabas, his wife, Angela, and three children, Divine, Gift and Victor, in an alleged food poisoning. The incident happened between August 30 and 31, 2025.
This is Ignatius’ heart-rending narration: “On Sunday, August 31, I went to the hospital, saw my brother, wife, and two other sons alive. I went to the mortuary and saw the two who had died.
“It was said that after they ate food on Friday night, the food was poisoned. On Saturday morning, all of them began to have severe stomach cramps, and they were rushed to the hospital, and two died.
“Then, the remaining four were there. When I came, my brother, Barnabas, told me that he was hungry, and I bought food for them.
“The other two sons were also recovering. We all chatted. Although the wife was on oxygen, she responded to greetings.
“She was just recovering, and in the evening, I went out, and one of my sisters was taking care of them. When I returned in the evening, she narrated a story to me that one man who was alleged to be responsible for my brother’s family condition, that when they were having our clan meeting just a week before the incident had openly said he would deal with my brother.
“He said that he would kill him, because there was a case raised in that meeting, and he spoke the truth. The accused (name withheld) saw him as a threat and swore to eliminate him.
“And this person in question had been consistently saying that he would wipe out all my family members because of a land dispute, which the entire community adjudicated, and we won. Since the land dispute victory, the man swore that he would wipe out our entire family.
“So, my sister said that this very man came all the way from our community to the hospital in a neighbouring community to see whether they were all dead. When he came, he stood at the door. Then, one nurse, after discussing with him, was calling my sister to distract her, but she refused.
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“So, that Sunday night, I slept there with two of my sisters. Around 9 – 10 pm, after they had taken their medications and slept, one nurse came in and told us that it was not convenient for these two children to stay in the same ward with their parents, that there was a room she had prepared that she would take the children there while their parents remained where they were.
“I was even thinking it was for good intentions and thanked her. Then, she told one of my two sisters there with me to carry the last child, and they left the room. I followed them to the nurses’ room, and we sat down. The nurse now returned to where my brother and wife were staying and called out the other of my sister and my brother’s first son.
“All of them came out to stay with us. Then, there was no one again in the room with my brother and wife. Immediately, I remembered what my sister had told me earlier in the day.
“So, I rose and rushed to their room and saw the nurse remove the oxygen from my brother’s wife’s nose. She removed it and was putting something inside her mouth.
“Instantly, I shouted, ‘Nurse, what are you doing?’ The only thing was that my phone ran out of power, otherwise I would have videoed the scene. So, immediately, I shook her; she had already gone.
“The police said they would arrest the nurse immediately, while the following morning, they would go for the man who had threatened to kill my brother and wipe out his family. So, before we could return to the hospital from the police station, my brother, who was already recovering, whom we all ate and discussed with, and his youngest son, who was already playing, had all died.
“As all of them died, I don’t know what to do again. I carried the only one that survived to Enugu immediately in the wee hours on Monday.
“I went to the ESUT Parklane Teaching Hospital, but nobody to attend to us at the emergency. There was no doctor present, and I was advised to go to the Niger Foundation Specialist Hospital.
“I rushed him to the Niger Foundation, and after a thorough medical examination, they wrote prescriptions, which he started taking. The following day, they referred us to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital to carry out further diagnostics. At that moment, the survival of the son, Marvellous, was what preoccupied my mind.
“At the SCID, the Ikem Division was asked to provide the nurse. The following day, they brought the nurse. She came with her husband and the doctor who owns the hospital.”
Ignatius claimed that although the owner of the hospital has been pleading that the matter should be settled but he (Pastor)is insisting that his brother, sister-in-law, and their children “must not die in vain.” He is therefore urging the government to intervene and ensure that justice is done.
