18-year old corpse in morgue attracts reactions from Abians

Burial ceremonies in Igboland appears to be an expensive adventure. In almost all parts of Igboland, the living spend lavishly to bury their beloved ones even if they died in abject poverty, whatever it takes to give the dead a befitting burial will be done in order to satisfy tradition.

Everyone is expected to perform the same burial rites and they are capital intensive, complex and elaborate. The complexities and financial expenses are more if the dead is a titled man, held political offices, or a person of immense social and political status.

It is very expensive to bury loved ones, especially one’s parents in Igbo land. In order to accord ones parents a befitting burial, some persons even go to the extent of obtaining loans from friends or even selling their family land to raise enough money for the ceremony.

They have to raise so much money to take care of the burial expenses like mortuary bills, the purchase of expensive coffin, sewing of uniforms, preparation of exotic dishes and drinks to entertain guests and indeed the community.

As a result therefore, Abians have continued to condemn the idea of leaving a corpse in the mortuary for over 18 years before burial. Take for instance, the corpse, allegedly of a woman who was just buried this July, 2017, having been dead and deposited in the mortuary since 1999.

Report has it that the trouble leading to the abandonment was as a result of 3 pieces of burial polo t-shirts, a carton of beer and non-availability of “sizeable meat” for the woman’s relatives, all in Abia State.

The sources revealed that during the burial day some months after she died more than that 18 years ago, trouble started with the woman’s relatives who protested that the corpse will not be buried because they were denied 3 extra burial polo T-shirts, extra one carton of beer, and sizeable meat among others.

A man from the deceased relative was said to have snatched the coffin with the copse inside from the resting table and put it into a waiting pickup van and zoomed back to the mortuary to redeposited it. According to the source, the husband of the deceased was so much pained by the act and had since died and buried.

However, it was not well with the relatives of the deceased as it was learnt that more than 10 of them had died, including the one that actually snatched the corpse. Elders that took part in the act and many other relatives of the deceased who attended the burial were said to have since died.

In a related incident also, another corpse in Umuosu in Umuahia North LGA of the state is said to have been in the mortuary since 2015, having died in Port Harcourt, the River State capital. The deceased is yet to be buried since these two years following a quarrel among her sons over burial site.

The first son, it was said, made a choice which the second son was said to have objected to, stating that the first son is not as rich as the second, hence the problem that has even gone to the courts starting from the customary court.

Reacting to these developments, the Egwu Uga 1 of Umuosu Okaiuga Nkwoegwu Autonomous Community in Umuahia North L.G.A of Abia State, HRM Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe, described it as imitation of other people’s culture and an act of showing off so that the affected will not be ridiculed by the public for not giving the deceased a befitting burial.

He said: “This is detrimental and is not beneficial at all. Burial ceremonies should not be seen as a competition. The Muslims’ method of burial is far much economical and better than what we see in Igbo land today. The Church had earlier tried to toe that line but it died on arrival.

Continuing, the royal father said: “Check the records of most of those who host very expensive burials. Some of them could not take proper care of the deceased while alive, but once they are certified dead, they (the affected) will start buying cows and goats, building mansions, renovating their houses and other things in order to give the deceased a befitting burial.

Eze Mbakwe, who is the first deputy chairman Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers and who called on the Igbos to cut their clothes according to their size, said as all hands are not equal, insisting that expensive burial makes the affected to go a-borrowing, sell lands and become bankrupt at the end of the ceremony, with many staying up to ten years before recuperating.

The Egwu Uga 1 recommended the prompt burial of the dead as a way to reduce the rising cost of burial ceremonies in Igbo land, which was the practice in the old.

According to him, Ndigbo could learn from Muslims, who abhor keeping corpses for more than 24 hours irrespective of the personality or amount of wealth the deceased may have possessed before his demise.

He advised that a sensitisation meeting be held among the traditional rulers who are the custodians of the culture, to be educated on the need to look into the issue in order to reduce the stress associated with the burial ceremonies and in turn disseminate the decision reached by them to their various communities.

His words: “Earlier, the Church said a corpse should not last at least two weeks before burial. We the traditional rulers should toe the same line and pass it as a law, so that the dead will be buried within one week of demise. There is no need for unnecessary expenditures

He however reminded the public that culture/traditions had been in existence before the advent of the Church, and so should be adhered to and in stringent laws should be amended to ameliorate the difficulties faced by the affected.