Widows Rights International (WRI)
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The treatment given to Widows in Nigeria

This account was emailed to us by a young woman now living in London.

I am writing this note on behalf of my mother who does not have access to a computer, nor know how to operate one; however she wishes for justice and awareness to be taken of what she has just experienced. She does not know about such organization as yours, but because I do know, I am willing to help her with it. As I write, she is with her relatives in Owerri, Imo State Nigeria, taking refuge with my younger brothers and sisters. But our family lives in Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria.

My daddy died on the 8th of August 2006. He died while on duty at work (he was a security guard at the Apapa Branch of Intercontinental Bank PLC). As he was seated, he was thought to be asleep on duty but he was in fact dead. The autopsy stated he had suffered a sudden attack of hypertension because he did not know that his blood pressure had been rising.

My mother, with my siblings and my daddy's elder brother, Mr.Christian, along with other people accompanied the corpse to our village on the 23rd August 2006. My daddy was to be buried on the 24^th but on that his brothers and sister, Mr.Christian, Mr.Leo, and Mrs Rosaline arranged with other members of the Azubuikes of Duruigbo clan of Oka Village in Imo State to stop the burial. My uncle Christian said to my first brother and my mother that they should bring out all the money my father has, because his daughter (me) lives abroad. He said that my daddy has gotten a lot of money from me and that my mum and younger siblings have killed my daddy so that only they will benefit from whatever comes from me.

In the full view of the public, including people of other tribes who came from Lagos to our village to witness the burial, my uncle pulled off the clothes my younger brother had dressed up my daddy's corpse in, desecrated the body, rummaging my daddy's stomach, saying that he was searching for some parts of his body, in case they had been used for money making. Eventually he stopped because, as all present could see, everything was intact and the way the mortuary workers and hospital had left the corpse.

My uncle Leo went to hire mobs and touts who carried sticks and weapons to clobber my mother and siblings with. My uncle Christian gathered all the women of the Duruigbo clan who carried firewood and canes to beat my mum with. My younger brother, Chukwuma, who is the first son of my daddy, insisted that he wanted to bury my daddy on that same day, but my uncle refused. Three men from my village intervened and asked for the burial to take place and all the trouble to stop at once but my uncle Christian refused. My brother asked when they wanted him buried but my uncle said he wasn’t thinking about any burial anymore and told him to go away. My uncle with others then seized the corpse, put it back in the coffin and asked the ambulance that brought it from Lagos to take it back to a mortuary situated near our village.

They chased my mother and her family away; for safety they ran into the bus that brought them from Lagos. My mother's family, who came for the burial as well, took my mum and siblings back with them to their house so that they could take refuge and at least be safe.

At the moment, my family is still in Imo State, waiting to see if there is a way they can get information about the burial and attend, because it is not heard of that a man be buried in absence of his wife and children.

It is my mum who says she will broadcast this abomination that has taken place. I would like the whole world to hear of this and disgrace my uncle and the others even after my dad has been buried. This is the only way that justice will be achieved for the disrespect shown to my dad's body.

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