The rustic village of Itaja-Obohia, Olokoro, Umuahia council area of Abia State, was, weekend, thrown into mourning as a man and his two sons died mysteriously less than 24 hours after giving out his daughter in marriage.
The man, identified as Mr. Okechukwu Osoagbakwu, and his two sons died a night after his daughter’s traditional marriage.
It was gathered from a source that the deceased’s wife and their little son returned to Umuahia, where they reside, after the ceremony, while the husband and the two sons stayed back to tidy up the house before returning to their base.
The source said the newly-married daughter was said to have put several calls across to her father and brothers without any of them picking the calls.
She was said to have rushed back to their house in Olokoro, where she noticed that the entrance doors to the house were still locked, prompting her to solicit the assistance of neighbours, who forced one of the doors open only to see her father and brothers dead with blood still gushing out from their mouths.
Reacting to the incident, a village head from Umuonuzo, a neighbouring village, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwosu, described the incident as “sad and unfortunate,” adding that the incident has thrown the entire community in a sober mood.
He called on the Police to carry out autopsy to ascertain the cause of “this strange death.”
“We are mourning a tragic death. Before this tragedy, we have four corpses in the mortuary, but this tragedy involved a father and his two sons, who died after the marriage rites of his daughter,” he lamented.
In his reaction, the Chairman of Umuahia South council, Mr. Obioma Ezeogbulafor, described the incident as an unfortunate one and prayed God to grant their souls eternal peace.
Also, Chairman, Umuahia South Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Godfrey Onwuka, said: “It is really a shocker to all of us. We have not seen this type of thing before. We don’t know yet whether it is generator fumes that killed them or it is poison.
“They have been taken away by the Police to hospital for autopsy and possibly to a mortuary.
“After the hospital’s investigations, we will know the cause of their death. It is really painful.”
Contacted, Abia State Police Commissioner, Anthony Ogbizi, said he was not aware of the incident as it has not been brought to his attention.
