You Must Marry Your Wife’s Corpse –In-Laws To Husband

You Must Marry Your Wife’s Corpse –In-Laws To Husband

You Must Marry Your Wife’s Corpse –In-Laws To Husband

Hours after the birth of her twin
girls, Margaret Emmanuel gave up
the ghost, leaving her husband with
the twins and their three grown-up
siblings.

To make matters worse, Margaret’s
family in Ebonyin are demanding
that Emmanuel fulfills a vital
aspect of their culture before the
burial ceremonies even commence.
At first it was congratulations and
celebration galore as Madam
Margaret Emmanuel was delivered
of a set of beautiful twin girls.
But few hours after, the joyful
mood turned sour and mourning
took over, as news filtered in that
mother of the twins had passed on.
She gave up the ghost on her way
to the hospital…
Living the twins behind without the
very vital motherly care. It also
marked the beginning of the
trauma of her husband and father
of the twins, Mr. Adejo Emmanuel.
Aside being shattered by the news,
he was suddenly faced with a
somewhat insurmountable
challenge of weaning two infants
alone. But the trauma did not end
there, only Emmanuel didn’t know
at this point in time.
Lamenting his predicament,
Emmanuel said, “My life is like a
balloon that was punctured with a
pin, which immediately deflated it
of all the joy. When a woman is
pregnant the prayer is to hear the
babies’ cries and that of the
mother’s joy; but now the mother is
gone, leaving the babies,”
Emmanuel said, sobbing.
That was the story of the
Emmanuel family last December
21. As if the agony was not enough,
the deceased’s family members
sent a message to the husband that
he has to obey their custom and
tradition by performing certain
rituals and rites.
Chief amongst these rights includes
performing the mandatory
marriage ceremonies with the
deceased wife, an activity the
couple had failed to perform while
the late Margaret was alive.
Without that, they told him that he
is barred from coming to his wife’s
village in Akenze, Ebonyin State, let
alone, burying the corpse.
Emmanuel, a peasant farmer in his
mid-50s is thus being called upon
to go through wedding ceremonies
with his late wife’s corpse. Coming
from Emmanuel’s Igala ethnic
background, this is rather bizarre
and unimaginable.
He lamented, “I don’t know what
went wrong and I don’t know my
sin. Like any other fellow Christian,
when everybody was preparing for
Christmas, I was preparing as well,
both for a merry Christmas, safe
delivery for my wife and a
successful naming ceremony for the
babies; not knowing that I had
another thing coming.”
Late Margaret’s last moment
Narrating his wife’s last moment,
Emmanuel said he suddenly saw
his wife at Ugbagbo farm in Owo,
where he was working
unannounced. “When I saw her, I
scolded her and asked why she
came all the way to the farm,
because she was already heavy and
ready to deliver.
I also asked why she did not go to
the hospital instead of coming to
the farm to meet me. Of course, this
was not her first pregnancy, as she
had previously had four children
before this pregnancy.
“To compound matters, there was
no vehicle to take her back to town
that evening. We therefore waited
till the second day. However she
went into labour in between and
was delivered of the twin girls.
She was attended to by Traditional
Birth Attendants, but the placenta
did not come out. We quickly got
her into a vehicle and headed for
the General Hospital at Oke-Ogun
in Owo. Unfortunately she did not
make it, as she gave up the ghost at
the entrance of the hospital. I
noticed that her condition had
worsened and she was getting
dizzy.
She thus got to the hospital, dead.
To say the least, I was devastated. I
became confused and almost ran
mad. The nurses, who knew her,
were surprised that she went to the
farm instead of the hospital. She
was well known at the hospital,
because that was where she had all
her children. She had also attended
antenatal there.”
Twins under custody
Honourable Segun Obasekola, a
Councillorship aspirant in Igboroko
Nla Street, Owo and landlord of No
44, Igboroko Nla Street, where the
family resides, said he pitied the
man, Emmanuel for losing his wife
at childbirth: “When they
approached me for a room and I
discovered they had no money, I
have no choice but to allow them
use the room free-of-charge. I did
not know anyone of them, but as a
community leader and a man with
milk of kindness, I think this is one
way I can render help.
Here a Good Samaritan, Mrs.
Femisola Akilamilo is taking care of
the twins. Mrs. Akinlamilo, a
prophetess who is also called
Mother of Children (Iya Ewe) in her
Cherubim and Seraphim Church.”
When The Nation got to 44,
Igboroko Nla Street, the woman
and the babies were found in a
room, where she takes care of
them.
Speaking, the twins’ guardian
Madam Akinlamilo said she was
called by a church member to come
and assist the motherless children
who had just been delivered. She
said: “My cell phone just rang last
December 23 (2015), and a friend
broke the news that a mother of
twins had just died and there was
nobody to take care of them.
She added that since I am a mother
of kids in the church, I should try
and assist in taking care of the
babies. He also said I would be
given stipends.
So I obliged. I am a widow, I have
four children and my last child is
11 years old. Since I am not under
any man’s roof, I gladly accepted
the role of a guardian, as God sent
me.”
Asked if she breast-feeds the
babies, the woman declared in a
touching voice, “There is no milk in
my breasts anymore, but the nurses
and doctors have recommended
their food (SMA).
They consume a tin of the baby
food within three days, but their
father is a poor farmer; so when I
ran out of their food, I went to
Alhaji Jamiu Ekungba, a
gubernatorial aspirant in Ondo
State and narrated the story to him
in order to solicit his to assistance.
I also met one Mr. Jide Tububo, who
advised me to go to the press and
do the necessary legal papers, for I
was ignorant of all such stuff. As I
speak, we have no food to give
them today, because they have
exhausted what we had in stock.”
Asked whether she had intimated
the welfare office or the police that
she is in custody of the babies, Mrs.
Akinlamilo became a bit jittery and
said, “I am ignorant of that.
I am just acting as a Good
Samaritan; I don’t know that I
should report to the Welfare Office
or the police. Please can you
enlighten me more to avoid any
problems,” she pleaded with this
reporter. Mrs. Akinlamilo said she
is appealing to the state
government and NGOs to come to
the twins’ aide.”
In the course of this discussion,
Emmanuel, father of the twins
came in with a tin of SMA baby
food. He announced with relish that
he just bought one tin from the
money given to him.
Many rivers to cross
Now the corpse of the late Margaret
has been deposited at the mortuary
while preparation is on the way to
go to Akenze in Ebonyi State to
officially announce the news of his
wife’s demise and also perform the
necessary rituals and rites. But
there still is a snag. Emmanuel has
no money.
He said: “The family of my late
wife have asked me to come and do
marriage ceremonies h my wife
and come up with the sum of
350,000 naira before anything
could even take off. Where would I
get the money from? I am confused.
They should pity my condition and
understand that I’m still taking
care of her four children. Three of
them are in secondary school, not
to talk of the twins,” he said.
So while Margaret’s corpse lies in
the mortuary, Emmanuel is
confused and disturbed, as he is
facing three hurdles: “I have no
money to pay for the mortuary; I
also have no money to feed the
children; and my in-laws are
demanding for the death certificate
of their daughter, which they say I
must bring along whenever I am
coming.
They also say it is compulsory for
me to come over and do a
compulsory marriage with her
before she could be buried. They
say some rituals must be performed
and 350,000 naira must be paid to
her family as part of her bride-
price, before talking about the
burial at all. Where do I get the
money from? Am I not in trouble
now?”
According to Emmanuel, his in-
laws don’t even want to entertain
or listen to any excuse or
explanation; all they care about is
for him to fulfil all the necessary
requirements.
Asked how he met his wife,
Emmanuel replied that, “You can
meet your wife anywhere, so far
there is love and the woman agrees
to marry you. I am from Idah in
Igala, Kogi State, and we met here
in Owo, Ondo State. I never knew
this is what I would face.”
Source: TheNation