A middle aged man identified as “Uncle Light” and his son identified as Miracle have allegedly died of food poisoning in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
The incident occurred at their residence located at Ebebe Junction in Abakaliki, the state capital.
Some residents said they suspected the girlfriend, who had recently moved in with the man after allegedly divorcing her husband last year, as being responsible.
When our reporter visited the scene of the ugly incident, the two bodies of the man and his son were lying down unconsciously.
A resident of the area, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said a case of food poisoning was suspected.
He said: “Since the incident occurred, we have not seen the woman.
“She left early in the morning with her baby while abandoning these ones here.
“We don’t know what they ate that made them to start vomiting.”
“The man is lying inside naked while you can see the son lying down at the gate.
“We need help for them to be evacuated to the hospital before they will start smelling.”
Another resident of the area, who also spoke with our correspondent also on the condition of anonymity, said he heard a loud voice in the middle of the night.
“I heard a loud voice in the middle of the night, and I told my wife that something was happening in our neighbourhood.
”At a point, we thought it was church people that made the noise. It is early this morning that we saw the son struggling and writhing in pain, coming outside the gate.
“He was crying for water. A friend provided him with water before he suddenly died. We are suspecting diarrhea, but it is for autopsy to confirm what killed him,” the source said.
The police later arrived at the scene with a man who claimed to be the brother of the girlfriend suspected to have poisoned the man.
The man, who refused to disclose his name or that of his sister, however, claimed that his sister was also sick and was being treated, though she was already in police custody.
Police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Mr Joshua Ukandu, confirmed the incident.
He said the police had evacuated the remains of the two deceased persons to the hospital and had commenced investigation.
“I am aware of it. We sent our officers to the area, and they assisted in evacuating the bodies.”
“We have launched an investigation to ascertain what happened,” he said.