Mallam Musa Mai icce, father of the 10 children who died after eating tuwon dawa (corn flour dish) in Jangeme village in Zamfara state, has narrated how the sad incident happened.
Mai icce disclosed that he and the remaining six family members didn’t partake in the meal because they were not at home.
“Myself, Rafiatu, Bashar, Babangida, Rabi and Suwaiba were not at home,” he said.
He told PUNCH that the entire family would have died if everyone was at home and partook in the meal cooked by his eldest daughter that afternoon.
Mai icce, who stated that the whole episode was like a drama to him, added that he had never experienced that kind of agony before.
The grieving father said “The food, (tuwon dawa) was cooked by my elder daughter in the afternoon and was eaten by the 10 children who were at home while six of us were away. I received a phone call from one of my neighbours that one of my children was having frequent diarrhoea and vomiting. I quickly returned home and took him to the hospital. When I was in the hospital, I also received another call that the remaining children were affected by diarrhoea and vomiting. I returned home and took them to the hospital where three of them died in the night, while the remaining seven also died the following day.
He stated, “I was completely dumbfounded as a result of the calamity but I leave everything to God as a Muslim. It was a drama to me. I know that was how they were destined to die. We that were not at home that day weren’t destined to die then. Otherwise, we would have been at home and also ate the food and died too.’’
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