by Azubuike Azikiwe
On Friday, December 5, during the burial of Ifeanyi Nwobodo Jnr, son of Jim Nwobodo, who died of cancer on November 16, his corpse was nowhere to be found, even as people gathered for the funeral.
Apparently, as at early in the morning on Friday, the corpse of the deceased had disappeared from the morgue.
The disappearance was reportedly caused by a disagreement between the deceased’s father, Jim Nwobodo, an erstwhile governor of Anambra state, and the members of the community of Amechi, Nkanu-West Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The clan and family members were against Nwobodo’s decision to bury his son outside the family compound, hence the corpse was snatched away by members of the community.
A family member disclosed that Nwobodo decided to bury Ifeanyi outside the family house on the notion that he (Ifeanyi) lost all his rights as a son by dying before his father. However, other members of the family, as well as Awkunanaw youths, who were not happy with the decision, maintained that he would not buried elsewhere.
Even as the burial ceremony commenced and several Nigerians and dignitaries waited for hours for the arrival of the corpse, it never showed up.
After waiting for so long, some past and serving Governors, including the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and other dignitaries decided to leave the burial venue.
The Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province of the Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, would eventually intervene into the disagreement by holding a meeting between both parties.
After the conclusion of the meeting, the warring parties came to a compromise as the Archbishop volunteered to allow the family bury the deceased at the St. Mathew’s Anglican Church Amechi Awkunanaw.
Leave a reply