Ogona Anita
Sorrow, grief and anguish unsettled the compound of the Obele family in Ogale, Rivers State on Wednesday. There was wailing from different corners of the house whose occupants had known nothing but agony since January 11.
What could have been responsible for the sudden death of an entire family of six in a single night and in the same enclosure?
Theophilus Obele, father, 49 years old; Eunice, wife, 35; Saka, son, 18; Peace, daughter, 14; Nyimenka, daughter, 7 and Abel Nwaka in-law, 25, all vivacious and young people, slept on Saturday in their village’s two-bedroom flat but could not wake up the next day. They all died untimely with their dreams and aspirations buried in a jiffy.
The Obele 5 returned to their home town in Ogale from Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State on January 1 to enjoy the yuletide in the village as was their regular practice. They spent over a week at the village and got ready to travel back to the city. They invited their in-law, the younger brother to Eunice, wife of Theophilus, to their home to help them in parking their belongings. His arrival increased their number to six.
They had prepared to leave for Port Harcourt on Sunday morning. Theophilus, the father was to resume his work at Onne Port on Monday while the children geared up to return to school the same Monday. Therefore, the Sunday journey was inevitable. Returning to Port Harcourt would take less than an hour’s drive.
The holiday was over and they dreamed of recalling the memories of the period later in Port Harcourt and maybe share their experiences with their friends in the city. But the memories died with them immediately they went to bed on Saturday. They could not wake up to see the daylight of Sunday. Everything paused. No more journey, no more schools and no more work. They were all found stone cold in various positions in the house.
Their deaths shattered the peace of Eleme and sent shockwaves into the spines of everyone that heard about it. How can the entire family die in one night? How can the lineage of one man end in a twinkle without any survivor? Was their untimely demise natural or was there a foul play?
Some wondered if someone had poisoned the food they ate before retiring to bed.
While the confusion of the cause of their deaths persisted, the police said their preliminary investigations suggested that they died from inhaling carbon monoxide from the generator they stationed close to their house.
The police said: “Preliminary investigation suggests possible generator fume poisoning as the cause of death. The generator was reportedly left on in the parlour of the Victims.
“The corpses have been deposited at Last Home Mortuary, Ebubu Eleme, for autopsy. Photographic evidence has been taken, and investigation is ongoing”.
However, the extended family members rejected the first verdict of the police. They maintained that the report was not in tandem with the reality and wondered why the police hastily blamed the cause of death on generator fume.
They argued that since they came back home, the generator had supplied them electricity from the same spot without any issue. Where was the generator located?
Investigations showed that the building where the tragedy occurred is a two-bedroom flat. It has a wide living room. From the main entrance into the living room, there is a door at the right rear that leads to the back of the house.
Behind the door is a balcony and beside it at the right hand side is a three-ft window secured with an iron burglary. It is at that balcony the generator is kept. From the living room at the left rear is a door that opens into another lobby where the master’s and the children’s rooms are located.
This axis of the lobby is far from the balcony where the newly acquired generator was kept. With such distance, most people find it difficult to believe that the generator was capable of producing enough fume to kill the deceased.
The younger brother to Theophilus, Godwill Ogoso, vehemently dismissed the position of the police. He said the deceased bubbled with life on the eve of their death. In fact, he narrated how he spent quality time with his brother till 12am at midnight when he decided to recline into his bed.
He said: “The night before the incident, my brother and family were okay and healthy. We were all together outside till 12am having discussions, because they were supposed to go back on the 11th of January 2026, which was on Sunday.
“He was supposed to resume work on Monday and his kids were expected to resume school too. He works with Onne Port. We were outside till that time when he entered the house and I entered my house too.
“He has been using this same generator on the same spot since 1st of January when he came with his family and nothing had happened.”
Recalling how he discovered the incident and raised the alarm, he said: “I woke up on Sunday and went to the back house to pump water since the generator was on. I pumped till the water was full and I switched it off.
“I noticed that the generator was still on and they were still sleeping. But I decided not to disturb their sleep since they were leaving that same day.
“I entered and slept off till 1pm when my little niece came to tap on the door asked, ‘Uncle, why is brother and the wife still sleeping till this time?’ I shouted, ’till now?’
“By then the generator had gone off. I tried reaching out to them on the phone; the phone kept ringing but no one picked up.
“I kept trying and banging on the door but no one was responding. My mother and my wife kept panicking and I was trying to calm them down, still looking out for alternatives”.
Godwill said he decided to forcefully open the door and became the first to behold the tragedy. Their various positions of death baffled him. Their remains seemed well-arranged in their father’s room. But the remains of the wife were found in the toilet after she had finished defecating.
Godwill tearfully narrated: “I forcefully opened one of the windows because everywhere was locked and they were dead.
“The house is a two-bedroom apartment with children’s room and masters room. What baffles me is how they were neatly arranged in the master’s bedroom.
“How did the children and in-law leave their rooms to be in one room and the wife was found dead in the toilet after stooling?
“The eldest son was found lying by the bed alongside a plate. The first daughter was lying on the bed with saliva and foams from the mouth, same with their last born.
“My brother was on the floor and his in-law was lying beside the door and he was bleeding from the nose and ears without any visible injury.”
The horrible scene could continue to cast everlasting torment to the memories of Godwill till death. “I was shocked beholding that scene. Even the son and daughter too were bleeding.
“When we tried lifting the daughter, we found faeces under her dress too, proving that they struggled till death. There were no suspicious movements in the neighbourhood and we had no issue with anyone,” he said.
Wrapping his head around the possibility of a third party being responsible for the agonising development, Godwill said his family had no issue with anyone apart from what he described as a small land dispute, which he said was swiftly resolved at the police station the same day the incident occurred.
He said: “But we had a small family dispute concerning the building and the fence and we were before the DPO of Eleme police station on Thursday, Friday and Saturday when they closed the case and settled everything about it. That same night, they slept and never woke up again.
“The family involved in the case were not available. We are not accusing anyone, but there’s more to this incident. We are still waiting for the results of the samples collected by the Ministry of Health in Rivers State.”
Insisting that the incident had nothing to do with generator fumes, he said: “We are begging and calling on the government to assist us and speed up the process. We want to know what really killed them. This isn’t generator fumes but a murder case.
“The local government chairman was here to see us and urged the ministry of health to be fast in their investigation. He asked us not to be in haste to bury them because he also is interested in knowing how six persons just died in his local government.
“We thank the chairman for coming. We know it is not easy for him to show up, but he did and has been helpful in playing the role of a leader. He promised us the results would be out. We have a mother who is aged.”
Godwill lamented that his deceased elder brother was the breadwinner of the family and the one taking care of their aged mother. “He is the only one who assists us and now we don’t have anybody to help us.
“We want the government to intervene. My mother is still in shock losing her child, grandchildren, daughter-in-law and in-law. It looks somehow,” he said.
Another young brother to the deceased Theophilus, who identified himself as Elero Obele, said he went outside the community on an errand commissioned by his deceased brother when he received the news of the incident. He said the brother had sent him to bring the elder sister of their mum to come and see the house he built for their mother.
He said: “On Saturday evening around 9 to 10pm, my elder brother called me and sent me on an errand to go pick our aunt from Akposia. She is the elder sister to our mother and he wanted her to come see the house he built for our mother.
“He works at Onne and wanted her to come stay with her since he was going back to Port Harcourt with his family. We concluded that on Saturday night.
“On Sunday, by five minutes past 1pm, I called him based on our agreement but he did not respond. I felt he was in church since I don’t stay here with them.
“I was at Aleto when my younger brother called that I should start coming because our elder brother and family were dead.
“I asked him what happened, he said he did not know because he only realised it when the wife’s sister came and he was calling but no one responded to their calls.
“They noticed from the window. The younger brother of the wife only came in that Saturday night so he could assist them in packing up their luggage.
“According to our customs and tradition, we bathed them before depositing their bodies at the mortuary. No investigation is being carried out yet.
“On Monday, we saw a team from the Rivers State Ministry of Health who came to get samples of the food they ate and the blood samples from their mouth.
“Currently, we are hearing from the Rivers State police command that my brother and family died from generator fumes, which is not correct.
“They haven’t done anything or obtain an autopsy report to truly know wat killed them, so why is the rumour going round that it’s generator fumes?
“The generator was a brand new one, and it was kept there since they came on the 1st of January. We don’t have money to conduct any test. That is the breadwinner of the family who left us without a word.
“We are calling on the government to help us with the test review and let it be in their investigation records if they find out it is related to the fumes as claimed.”
The Executive Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area, Chief Obarilomate Ollor, paid a condolence visit to the family. He described the incident as painful and shocking.
Ollor expressed sorrow over the unfortunate occurrence and conveyed the heartfelt sympathy of Eleme Local Government Council to the affected family. He noted that the loss of multiple family members under such circumstances is a tragedy no household should be made to endure.
He said a comprehensive investigation would be conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, adding that the probe would include necessary medical examinations and autopsy to determine the exact cause of death and rule out any form of human error.
Ollor said the investigation was intended to address public concerns, dispel fears, ensure clarity, and appropriate response where necessary. He urged the bereaved family to find strength and consolation in God during the difficult period, while also encouraging them to remain united and peaceful.
As sympathies poured in for the bereaved family, the police are expected to carry out a full-scale investigation into the matter to determine whether it was actually carbon monoxide emissions from the generator that killed the bubbling family of six.
They must spread their dragnet to capture all potential suspect including those portraying their innocence. But despite the report of any investigation, the painful memory of the incident will continue to haunt the family
