Panic in Kogi community as 4 family members die after eating ‘amala’

There’s panic among people of Mopa town in the Mopa-Muro Local Government Area of Kogi State, as four members of a family died after eating cassava flour, otherwise known as amala.

The victims, which included -the family head, Pa. Motilewa, his two daughters, and a girl said to be their relation, passed away in quick succession between Friday, September 30, 2022, and Sunday, October 2.

They were said to have prepared the Amala from the leftover cassava from which they previously made and ate Fufu.

The victims, according to community sources, spread the processed chaff in the sun to dry for some day, after which they ground it into soft powder which was used for the Amala they ate on Thursday, September 29, before retiring to bed.

The family members became sick overnight and efforts were made to stabilise them.

However, while members of the community have since been mourning the demise of the deceased, they have as well been in panic, as many of them started to become watchful of their intakes.

“We are shocked. I have never seen a thing like this. We suspect that someone may have poisoned the food. For what? We cannot tell. I’m confused and in pain. This is too much to bear,” a member of the family said.

The burial of the deceased were, however, said to have been suspended for proper investigations aimed at unraveling the cause of their deaths.