Tragedy struck a family in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, yesterday, when a 25-year-old housewife, Sakirat Abdullahi, allegedly committed suicide. Sakirat, a mother of a five-year-old boy, lived at 33, Ereko Street.
She was said to have drunk a mixture of shaving powder belonging to her husband which she put in a pap meant for dinner, late Sunday evening.
The widower, Abdullahi, a driver and a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Epe Motor Park, was not at home at the time of the incident.
According to him, he left Sakirat at home, hale and hearty before she fell into coma after drinking the poison.
Her husband, who was in terrible shock yesterday when he spoke to Daily Sun, managed to say: “I met her early this morning (yesterday) dead in our room. I forced the door opened because she didn’t open when I knocked,’’ he said.
A relation of the couple who identified himself as Isiaka, amid tears, wondered why her neighbours at the other building did not come to her aid when she was groaning in pains even when the window of her room was open for anyone to hear her cries.
Sakirat’s friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the deceased vomited in a bucket until she became unconscious.
Another family friend, Tunde, who claimed to be very close to the couple, said there was no quarrel or misunderstanding between them, noting that it is only God that can really explain the mystery surrounding the woman’s death.
The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Ijebu-Ode General Hospital, Dr. Wellington Ogunsanya, said consumption of shaving powder could not result into instant death as in the case of the deceased.
According to him, it will take three or more days in some cases, before such development, if not treated, could result into death.
Dr. Ogunsanya said that there might have been other factors that resulted into the death.
Meanwhile, the family has reported the tragedy at the Igbeba Police Division, Ijebu-Ode.
From ADE ADEYEMI, Ijebu Ode
Culled from The Sun newspaper
