The father of three girls, who were reportedly victims of food poisoning last Tuesday, has refuted the claims, stating that they died from generator fumes. The incident took place off Abeokuta Road at Sector F (Red House), DSC Township in Udu Local Government Area, Delta State.
Speaking on a local radio broadcast, the bereaved father, identified as Louis, said contrary to rumors making the rounds that his daughters were poisoned by their stepmother, they died of generator fumes because the windows of the house were shut.
Recounting the incident, Louis said, “I am the person that was there when the incident happened and the children are my children. I slept in the same house with them before the incident took place. This thing they are saying is poison, it was a mistake from generator fumes that killed the children. No poison from anywhere, nobody killed the children.
“The generator was turned on inside the house. They locked all the doors and shut the windows from ventilation.
“My daughter, Aghoghene, who was about 10 years old, ran to me from the parlor to the room; that ‘Daddy, I’m not feeling well. I don’t know how I’m feeling. So I asked her to sleep with me on the bed. We slept together, but I didn’t know when she returned to the others.
“Waking up in the morning, I discovered that foam was coming out of my children’s mouths. I raised my voice. I started to consider what could have happened. I discovered that the parlor windows that have always been opened were shut, so there was no way for fumes to go out, and they were choked by the fumes. My window was opened. Otherwise, it would have killed me too.”
Policemen from the Ovwian Police Division had invited the father and the stepmother for questioning. They were later released.
It was gathered that the girls, who were 11, 16, and less than 30 years of age, respectively, have two other sisters and a brother.
Their mother was said to have died about a year ago and was buried last year. Reports claim that the stepmother was close friends with their late mother.
