How our daughter died after eating garri, N70 sugar — Parents

The parents of late Fiddausi Mahmoud Abdullahi, residents of Rimin Hamza area, Sheka Dantsinke, Tarauni LGA of Kano State, have narrated how she died hours after drinking suspected poisoned cassava flakes popularly known as ‘garri’ and sugar on Monday, August 28, 2023.

Fiddausi was reported dead a few hours after drinking the ‘garri’ mixed with N70 sugar alongside her siblings.

City & Crime spoke with the bereaved parents, Mahmoud Abdullahi and Sadiya Abdurrahman, who narrated the unfortunate incident.

Abdullahi said, “She is my daughter, I went out to look for what to feed the family with. You know the situation. What I was able to bring back home was not sufficient for everybody to eat.

“I went out in the morning but did not come back until evening. We bought four cups of garri and N70 sugar which and then left to where I work as a security man at a tricycle parking lot. We went with her to the shop to buy the ‘garri’.

“I was there but around 11pm to 12 midnight, my attention kept returning home; my mind was not at ease. I then decided to check home. When I arrived, I met all my four children sick. But Fiddausi was in a terrible situation. Her eyes were wide open, and we started looking for ways to take her to the hospital but it was 1am,” he said.

He said he was however able to get a pharmacist in the neighbourhood who came and administered injections and gave some drugs to the children but before attending to Fiddausi, she had died.

 “Taking that ‘garri’ I am sure is what caused everything. However, I have faith and believe it’s her time that’s up but I really missed a loved one. The girl was a darling to me. Whenever I was going to fetch water, we went together. I can never forget her until my death.

“I will not be the only one who will miss her, ever since the return of my mother to this neighbourhood, she was the one fetching water for her every day. Most of the time we do it together.”

Also speaking amidst grief, the bereaved mother, Sadiya, narrated how they all ate the ‘garri’ and later all the four children began to develop complications from running stomach and vomiting.

“We drank the ‘garri’ in the evening because we didn’t have anything to eat and we had spent the day without eating. Barely two hours later, the children began vomiting and had a running stomach. For Fiddausi, she first slept but woke up also with the same issue.

“She went to the toilet twice and on the third time, she couldn’t even come out, she passed out and her eyes got swollen.

“Immediately before she died, she told me that that I should be roasting groundnut for her to hawking due to the situation. I am a maid at someone’s house and before my monthly pay, sometimes I stay without even N10.

The bereaved parents, who described their fate as a result of extreme hardship faced by many, called on the government to as a matter of urgency come to the aid of the less privileged.

“The state and federal governments should look into the situation of the masses and come to their aid. We are in a serious situation; others have started eating what they are not supposed to. There is hunger. If someone tells you his situation you will cry. As poor as I am I am better than others,” Abdullahi appealed.