Woman slumps, dies during own birthday celebration
An in-house party to celebrate the birthday of a middle-aged woman, Mrs Jamila Ameh, turned into mourning as she slumped and passed away during the ceremony.
The sad event, which threw her entire neighbourhood on Mauritania street in Barnawa, Kaduna, into mourning during the Christmas season, happened on Saturday, Dec. 23 as she was celebrating her 45th birthday.
Members of the family told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that the woman was ``hail and hearty before the celebration and did not show any sign of illness.''
An eye witness at the scene who simply described himself `` Bonny,'' said the celebrant was receiving a call during the ceremony when she heaved a sigh and slumped.
`` I rushed out to get a doctor and by the time I came back they had taken her to a nearby clinic on the same street and the doctor said she had already passed on , '' he said.
Bonny said a doctor and security agents from her office, Kaduna Refining and Petro-chemicals Company (KRPC), were at the scene of the event the same night for investigations and documentation.
``It will take long time for us to recover from this shock, '' her daughter, Joyce Odihi, said, noting that arrangements had been made for her internment on the 5th of January.
NAN gathered from other family sources that the deceased had invited several relations for the Christmas and New Year holidays, and many of them arrived to find the house in mourning.