By Farida Mohammed
A woman, Rose Akpan, has died in her apartment on Odunsi Street, in the Bariga area of Lagos State.
Our correspondent, who visited the house to ascertain the circumstances surrounding her death, gathered from neighbours that Akpan’s hands and legs were paralysed due to a medical condition.
In a bid to keep her clean, the neighbours said they had been voluntarily taking turns to bathe her and change her diapers.
PUNCH Metro gathered that one of the neighbours, identified simply as Iya Hameed, whose turn it was to cater to Akpan, upon entering her room, found her lying unconscious on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
Iya Hameed thereafter, raised the alarm and reported to their late landlord’s son, Sunday Udoh, who in turn went with his uncle and a neighbour to report the matter at the CMS Police Station.
Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, Udoh said Akpan died from stroke, arthritis and neglect, adding that she also denied her family members access to her.
He said, “My late father rented Akpan’s room to her and her husband, who is a Ghanaian. I returned from the field when my tenants told me Akpan had died. When she was alive, she suffered from a stroke in her hand and leg.
“She had difficulty walking and some neighbours sympathised with her by changing her diapers. We even asked her the whereabouts of her family, and she insisted that she had none.
“A week before her death, when she was ill, my uncle and I took her to the Gbagada General Hospital but unfortunately, we were told that there was no bed space. So, we went to the CMS Police Station to file a report so that if she died, we would not be questioned.
“When we met the Divisional Police Officer, he advised us to take her to a hospital. We rushed her to a private hospital at Ilaje, and on getting there, a doctor asked us about her family and we said we were just neighbours rendering assistance to her.”
