Father’s grave location tears siblings apart

The battle on where to bury a Delta chieftain has caused trouble between the children of the late Onyia of Otolokpo Kingdom. YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that efforts by the family and community leaders yielded no results until the matter was taken to a court of competent jurisdiction for resolution.

 

It is not unusual for disagreements and fight to break out within families and dependants after the death of their loved ones, especially if the deceased had material assets during his lifetime especially if the children are from different mothers. But in the case of the children of late Christopher Nwuzun Idunoba, the Onyia  and Ogele Idumorji of Otolokpo Kingdom, Delta state, what ripped the children apart was not how to share the properties left behind by their father but where the corpse of their late father will be buried.

When Chief Idunoba gave up the ghost on November 23, 2018 at Model Specialist Hospital, Surulere Lagos, at the age of 90, the eldest surviving son, Mr. Zacheus Boniface Idunoba, gave an instruction to the hospital management not to release the corpse to any family member except himself. His siblings and family members made several gestures to know where he moved the remains of the deceased without any response, and he ignored all calls to his mobile number.

Suspected Fulani bandits rob commuters on Ife-Ibadan expressway, kill Osun civil servant

When all attempts to get information on where the remains of their late father proved abortive, the other children wrote a petition to the Nigerian Police against their brother, asking the police to investigate what he did with the corpse. The police investigation revealed that he had deposited the corpse at the mortuary of the  Lagos Mainland Hospital and had concluded plans on the funeral rites and final burial of their father without the consent of the other children or the family.

His plan was to bury late Idunoba in Lagos on January 25 and 26, 2019, which his siblings claim is against the last wish of their father and the tradition of their community and his status as a titled chief. Consequently, the siblings decided to take the case to court since he refused to listen to their arguments on the matter.

Eight of the children of the late Ogele Idumorji of Otolokpo Kingdom: Mrs. Obiageli Elizabeth Idunoba (Nee Ayogbe), Ms. Ayo Idunoba, Ms. Nkechinidunoba, Mr. Chukwuma Idunoba, Mr. Moses Idunoba, Mr. Louis Idunoba, Miss. Marian Idunoba and Miss. Efe Idunoba, filed a suit against their brother, Mr. Zacheus Idunoba, the eldest surviving son of their father after the eldest son had died.

They asked a Chief Magistrate’s court sitting in Yaba, Lagos, presided over by Chief Magistrate Kikelomo Bukola Ayeye, to resolve the issue under the provisions of the law. The court, after listening to their petition, gave a judgment and put to rest the matter of the final resting place for the late chief.

They eight remaining children had asked the court to determine whether their brother, Zacheus, can unilaterally decide where to bury their late father without their consent  against the wishes of their late father who indicated during his life that he wanted to be buried in Otolokpo Kingdom and whether he has the right to unilaterally fix the January 25 and 26, 2019 for the Christian wake and burial of their father.

They also asked for a declaration of court that the act of their brother in moving or tampering with the remains of their late father is unlawful and illegal; that his moving the remains of late Chief Idunoba to a secret place without the consent of the family and against the wish of their deceased father is unlawful and illegal, that the unilateral fixing of January 25 and 26, 2019 for the Christian wake and burial in Lagos without a family meeting being held for that purpose is unlawful and illegal as well as an order restraining him from burying their late father within the jurisdiction of Lagos State.

The court, after considering the written application, ordered that oral evidence be given in the matter since the court found conflicting evidence in the averments in their affidavit submitted before the court.

In the course of the trial, Chief Magistrate Ayeye took evidences from six witnesses; three witnesses spoke on the culture of their community and the remaining three witnesses tried to establish the wishes of the deceased.

The other children had accused their brother of planning to bury their father in Lagos, a move which they insist is totally against their tradition as he was a titled chief and their customs do not permit his burial outside his ancestral home, added that if he is allowed to go ahead with the burial rites as planned, it will not only amount to an abominable/atrocious and sacrilegious act, but one for which it will take over two generations unborn to appease the gods.

They had further claimed that their customs do not give him the right to unilaterally take decisions on burial even as the oldest surviving son, since their elder brother had passed on before their father; that Mrs. Obiageli Elizabeth Idunoba, the eldest child of late Chief Idunoba whose position is the “Ada”  is like mother to all her siblings and  that Zacheus, the eldest son has no right that supersedes her own.

They argued further that there are still three  wives of the deceased alive whom their brother did not give the opportunity to know where their late husband should be buried, reiterating that the intended action of their brother would cause great hardship, civil unrest, breach of public peace and perceived spiritual attack on the family and community as a whole.

Zacheus in his defense had claimed that    by ‘Ika’ culture, the surviving eldest son has power over and above other siblings and   that the village’s custom of appeasing the gods is inconsistent with his religious freedom and their deceased father’s Christian  way of life. He added that any burial that does not carry the eldest son along is void, and that burying the deceased in his own residence is not only an honour to his memory but also part of the strategy to recover his only property from the creditor bank.

He claimed that the extortionist tendencies by villagers over burial rites are well known, and asked the court to dismiss the claim as abuse of court process and award conservative general damages of N9, 000,000 at 10 per cent per annum until payment, for wrongfully aborting the burial of January 25th and 26th 2019. He added that the first applicant, his sister, being a woman who has been married out of the family has no locus-standi in law to challenge the eldest son on the subject matter.

Chief Magistrate Ayeye in her judgment held that it is good, just and fair to uphold a customary practice that honours the dead and whose enforcement will avert danger and calamity to family left behind and the community at large.

“I uphold the burial rites of Otolokpo people relating to titled chief from Otolokpo, I hold it is not repugnant to natural law, equity and good conscience,” Magistrate Ayeye held, adding that Zacheus, “his agents, privies, thugs or any other person claiming through him or acting under his directives are hereby restrained from tampering with the corpse/remains or carrying on the burial of Late Chief Christopher Nwuzun Idunoba within the jurisdiction of Lagos State or doing anything incompatible or inconsistent with the wishes and burial culture of Otolokpo kingdom applicable to him as a titled man. The deceased is ordered buried in Otolokpo.”

According to the court, the defendant’s argument that a chief Magistrate Court in Lagos cannot issue an order for anything to be carried out outside Lagos is tantamount to holding that a bench warrant or warrant of arrest against a suspect signed in Lagos State cannot be executed outside the state of issue, or that a civil complaint/writ issued in Lagos State cannot be served outside the state where it was issued.

“That argument is not based on sound reasoning and is discountenanced.

It will be fallacious of this Court to hold that a customary practice that seeks to perpetuate a particular custom to avoid the wrath of the gods is repugnant and unknown to law.

“The counter relief for damages for the respondent lacks merit and hereby dismissed. The Otolokpo custom of burying a titled chief in his home town is not repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience,” the court held.

And finally, the eight children of the late Onyia of Otolokpo Kingdom got the nod of court to do what the custom of their community dictate and plan for the burial of their father in his ancestral home.