Blessing Oduche, the sister-in-law to Nanyah, who recently passed away from a snake bite, has recounted the events leading to the artiste’s death.
The Enugu-born artiste, born Ifunanya Nwangene, visited two separate hospitals seeking urgent care, but was reportedly turned away at both due to a lack of available anti-venom.
News of her death has sparked widespread outrage on social media, with many criticising the alleged healthcare failings that contributed to the tragedy.
Speaking in a recent interview with BBC Pidgin, Blessing recounted the critical missteps that began immediately after the bite.
She described the reptile as “a big snake” and revealed that precious emergency response time was lost as security personnel at their compound allegedly prioritised hunting the reptile over rushing the victim to a hospital.
“The snake is not a small snake. It is a big snake. After the bite, they were looking for the snake and Ifunaya was still there. I do not know if the security guys in our compound did not know that it was an emergency because they did not carry her immediately,” she said.
“They suspended attending to her to find the snake. So they took time looking for the snake. By the time they came out, the neighbours in the other compound said they offered to use their car, but the car did not respond.”
She said despite her worsening condition, Nanyah boarded a motorcycle to Divine Health Clinic, the first hospital she visited.
However, she was later referred elsewhere, which also took a longer time.
“She carried the hand, and she was running towards the gate. The distance from her house to the gate is lengthy, but she carried her hands to the gate notwithstanding,” she added.
“Before she got a bike to go to the Divine Health Clinic, she went first. From what the brother told me, I think the snake bit her around 8:30/9:00pm but before she got to FMC, it was about 10pm. About 1hour 30 minutes later.”
