Tragedy has struck a family of six in a community in Oyo State after they allegedly ate poisoned Amala.
Reports obtained by Naija News revealed that one person died in the tragic incident which happened in the Temidire Atoyebi area along Ajaawa in Ogbomosho.
It was gathered that the family, consisting of a grandmother, Victoria Adewole, her four children and a granddaughter, all ate the poisoned cassava flour used to prepare Amala on Wednesday.
According to The Nation, the family became uncomfortable a few hours after eating the food.
Sources who spoke to the news platform on condition of anonymity disclosed that the family successfully extracted cassava flour from cassava peels, which they ground and prepared as a meal. This was due to their inability to afford yam or cassava flour.
However, their distress call for help after eating the meal prompted their concerned neighbours to rush to their aid and transport them to a private hospital located in the Ogbomoso Baptist High School area.
Tragically, it was reported that the granddaughter passed away during this ordeal.
Subsequently, the victims were transferred to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital in Ogbomoso.
It has been learned that medical professionals are currently working tirelessly to save the remaining members of the family.
“One of the children managed to disclose that it was cassava peels that they ground and made into flour, which they prepared as amala since they could not afford to buy yam or cassava flour.
“The complication from the peels, which could have been poisoned or contaminated, resulted in the death of the youngest granddaughter, whose immune system might be very low.
“The mother and her other four children are still battling with life in the hospital. We plead with kind-hearted people to please assist the family in whatever way they can so that fatality is no longer recorded among them,” one of the sources told journalists.
The Chief Medical Director of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Prof. Olawale Olakulehin, confirmed the development to newsmen stating that four of the five surviving family members are currently showing positive signs of recovery while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Regrettably, one of the victims is in critical condition, and unfortunately, another member of the family passed away before reaching LAUTECH Teaching Hospital in Ogbomoso, he noted.