The Enugu State Government on Wednesday promised to take full responsibility for the nine-month-old child whose parents died from suspected food poisoning.
It was reported that a couple, Lawrence and Chizoba Chukwu; their three-year-old daughter, Nazareth; and a maid, Ukamaka, died after eating a meal suspected to have been poisoned.
The incident happened on Friday at their residence at Umuchigbo, Iji-Nike in the Enugu East Local Government Area of the state.
Only nine-month-old Chidiuto survived the tragedy as he was not fed with the food.
The state Commissioner for Gender Affairs and Social Development, Peace Nnaji, who led a government delegation to commiserate with the family of the deceased, announced that the state government would adopt the child.
While describing the incident as sad, the commissioner said the state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, “is really saddened by this ugly development. That was why he sent us to come and condole with the family.”
She assured the extended family, headed by Mr Basil Chukwu, that they were not alone in this moment of grief, as the government would unravel “the cause of these deaths so that no other person will be a victim of maybe food poisoning or whatever.”
Nnaji, after speaking with the Chief Medical Director of the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Hyacinth Onah, was informed that the child was breastfed by his late mother and also licked the soup which the victims consumed.
She immediately directed that the child be taken to a hospital for extensive medical examination and treatment.
Responding on behalf of the family, the elder brother of the late Lawrence, Sylvester Chukwu, thanked the state government for the visit and promised to support in the care of the child.
