Enugu Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has promised to take full responsibility of a nine-month-old baby, Chidiuto, the only survivor son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Chukwu, who died after eating a meal suspected to be poisoned in their residence at Umuchigbo, Iji-Nike in Enugu East Local Government Area of the state.
Other casualties of the poisoned food are the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Nazareth and their maid, Ukamaka Chukwu.
Speaking when a delegation from Governor Ugwuanyi, led by the Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Development, Peace Nnaji, paid a condolence visit to the extended family of the deceased, who are in custody of the child, Nnaji conveyed the heartfelt condolences of the governor to the family, describing the incident as a sad development.
The commissioner said Ugwuanyi “is really saddened by this ugly development,” adding, “that is why he sent us to come and condole with the family.”
Nnaji assured the extended family, headed by Basil Chukwu, that they are not alone in this moment of grief as the government of Enugu State “is going to do everything to make sure it unravels the cause of these deaths so that no other person will be a victim of food poison.”
She said the surviving baby is the child of the government and “the governor has given his word that even though these people are no more, the state government is not going to abandon the family (child).”
The commissioner, who prayed for the repose of the deceased persons, on receiving information that the surviving child was breastfed by his late mother before she died and also licked the soup which the victims consumed, directed that the baby be taken to the ESUT Teaching Hospital, Parklane Enugu immediately for proper and extensive medical examination and necessary treatment, after speaking with the Chief Medical Director, Hyacinth Onah.
She, therefore, accompanied the child and the family to the hospital, saying: “We have decided to take the baby to Parklane hospital; we have just reached the CMD Parklane on phone here; they are waiting for us; we are moving straight with the baby to Parklane and the state government is going to take charge of the child to make sure nothing happens to him.”