The popular family of Iyawe in Benin City, Edo State Capital has postponed the burial rite of their late matriarch indefinitely, following missing human sense organs of the deceased, under investigation by the Nigeria police.
Widower of the deceased and the Management of Stella Obasanjo hospital mortuary in Benin where the body was kept by her family for nine months before her funeral rite was formerly fixed this weekend, have been named as actors the raging controversy.
The reported crime came to light when the family of the deceased ordered that their beloved matriarch body in the coffin be open for inspection when they learned that her body has been tampered with.
This was after her children of the late woman returned from the hospital at the weekend ahead of the commencement of her funeral rites, according to family sources.
Chaos erupted when the
the widower failed to provide valid answers to the missing eyes of his late wife, who had held the family firmly together before she died, upon interrogation when the corpse was brought to her family compound.
Unsatisfied with the explanation, Iyawe family thereafter, ordered that the body of the woman be conveyed back to Stella Obasanjo hospital mortuary, amid suspicion of alleged ritual involvement.
An eyewitness reporter, who claimed to be Oyawe’s family friend, identified as Mr Andrew Iyawe, popularly known as Ekete, shared footage of scandal on Facebook at the deceased residence in Benin.
Expressing displeasure over the incident, the Facebook user, alleged that when the protesting family stormed the hospital, one of the mortuary attendants, told them that it was formalin, which was used for the embalment that failed, resulting in the disappearance of the deceased eyes.
But the family returned to the morgue and dumped the corpse there in protest, to pave the way for further investigation, ahead of the final burial of the deceased by the aggrieved Iyawe family, who thereafter staged a walk-out on the hospital.
In a viral footage, the witness said, “Today is supposed to be burial ceremony of his Oyawe’s wife. But the mortuary attendant said the chemical that was used to embalm the woman. That is why the woman’s eyes removed”.
“He (Mrs Iyawe) spent nine months.
“She was sick for a long time before she died. And her body was kept in the mortuary.
“But the family is insisting that they will not proceed with her burial untill her husband provide the missing eyes of the late woman”, the witness enthused.
