In Kogi state’s Mopa Muro LGA, four members of the same household are said to have perished after eating amala. The mother is still in the hospital, while the deceased victims include the father, two daughters, and a relative. It is not yet known, though, if the amala they ingested contributed to their enigmatic and unexplained deaths.
Four family members died after consuming cassava flour, also known as amala, in the Kogi State town of Mopa in the Mopa-Muro Local Government Area, and the community has been plunged into sorrow. According to reports, the deceased passed away suddenly between Friday, September 30, and Sunday, October 2.
The family patriarch Pa. Motilewa, his two daughters, and a young woman who was reportedly related to them were among those that perished. Motun, one of the dead daughters, worked as a teacher in the community.
The family used the remaining cassava from which they had previously produced and consumed Fufu to make the Amala. It was claimed that they spread out the processed chaff to dry in the sun for a few days. The flakes were then crushed into a soft powder and used to make amala, which they consumed on Thursday night before going to bed.
The victims reportedly became ill over night, and efforts were made to stabilize them, according to an eyewitness. However, the family’s youngest member passed away on Friday, and then the related did so on Saturday.
Others were sent to the ECWA Hospital in Egbe for better medical care, our reporter learned.
But about three in the morning on Sunday, Motun, the oldest of the daughters, passed away. Later on Sunday, the father passed away as well. The mother, known only as Molomo, was still alive and being closely monitored at the time this article was filed.
According to reports, community members suspected foul play in the death and postponed the burial so that adequate investigations could be conducted to determine what caused the victims’ deaths. “We’re stunned. This is something I have never seen before.
We suspect that someone may have poisoned the food. For what? We cannot tell. I’m confused and in pains. This is too much to bear,” a member of the family said. In August 2022, five persons lost their lives after eating a cassava flour meal prepared at their family house in Usugnwe-Okaito, in the Okehi LGA of Kogi State.