A Nigerian man, Pastor Ignatius Ikeze, has narrated how his brother, Barnabas Ikeze, was poisoned to death together with his wife and three children.
According to Pastor Ikeze, the incident happened in Akpani Neke in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State in August.
The clergyman, in an interview with the Punch, alleged that the perpetrator is a member of their kindred who conspired with others to lay claim to a piece of land belonging to their father.
According to Ikeze, the late Barnabas and his siblings resisted the attempt to hijack their father’s land.
He said they won the case, and the Igwe of Neke, along with his cabinet, declared that the land rightfully belonged to their father.
Ikeze said those who lost the case vowed to wipe them out and had since been terrorising them.
He narrated that on August 30, 2025, his brother took a meal of aribo, a locally prepared cassava dish, similar to semovita, with the rest of his family.
Moments later, they started feeling discomfort and ended up in the hospital, where the couple and three of their children died.
Ikeze recalled that he had just returned from the International Ministers’ Training Fire Conference in Abuja, where he had been for a week, when he was told of the incident.
He said it was around 9 p.m., and he wanted to go but was prevailed upon to wait till morning.
The following morning, Ikeze said he went to the hospital, where he found his brother and wife lying critically ill.
He said he was told by a sibling looking after Barnabas and his family that the man they suspected of poisoning the family showed up at the hospital and continued to threaten them.
The clergy man said a week before the poisoning episode, the same man had threatened Barnabas that he was going to wipe him out.
He said the man was a part of their kindred but not a direct member of their immediate family.
While at the hospital, Ikeze claimed he saw some suspicious moves being made by a particular nurse.
He alleged that the nurse arranged to separate the poisoned family, claiming that the children were meant to be in a separate ward.
The clergy man said after the separation, he felt an impulse to visit Barnabas and his wife in their ward, only to find the nurse removing the oxygen mask from Barnabas’ wife’s mouth and injecting something into her mouth.
He said he shouted at her and she hurriedly left the room, with him following her and shouting at her to explain what she was doing.
According to him, Barnabas’ wife died shortly afterwards.
The Pastor said he ran to the village to inform his pastor and the police. By the time he returned, his brother, who had been recovering and was even chatting with him the previous day, and another child had died.
He said he then moved the remaining child out of the hospital to another location where he was successfully treated.
He said the police summoned the nurse, but later released her.
Ikeze said the police said an autopsy would be carried out to establish the truth before knowing what to do with her.
He lamented that his brother left behind three children; one who survived the poisoned food and two others who lived with their aunts and did not eat the poisoned food.
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