To 35-year-old Sunday Effiong, an indigene of
Akwa Ibom State who lives in Idanre in Ondo
State, there is no better definition for multiple
tragedies than what has befallen him in the
past few weeks.
The chain of events started on June 8, 2016
when he lost his wife, 28-year-old Joshua
Justina, in a pitiable but avoidable manner in a
farm, where she and her six-year-old nephew
were knocked down by a tree being felled by
someone in the farm. Since then, the father of
three has been making efforts to deal with his
numerous issues one at a time.
The couple, though not legally married before
Justina's death, live in a farm settlement, Ako
School Camp, in Idanre with their three
children, Abel, 8; Rose, 5; and John, 3. They
both hail from Ukwok in Ini Local Government
Area of Akwa Ibom State.
As if losing a wife and mother of his three
children were not enough, the corpse of his
wife has been on the floor of the mortuary at
the general hospital, Idanre, due to what
seems like a brewing clash of tradition
between the Akwa Ibom people and the Idanre
community.
Given the circumstances that led to Justina
Joshua's death, the Idanre community insists
that the woman has to be buried in the forest,
beside the tree, while her relatives and the
Akwa Ibom community insist that the corpse
has to be taken to her village for proper burial,
in line with their own tradition.
With the prevailing conflict of tradition, the
corpse of Justina is lying on the floor of the
mortuary, covered with a black nylon, while the
foetus in her womb had yet to be removed.
It's a revolting sight, and seeing it would make
anyone cry.
Meanwhile, Sunday, had yet to perform the
normal marriage rites, thus, he is likely faced
with the obligation of marrying the corpse, but
that is just one of his worries. His major
concern at the moment, in his words to
Saturday PUNCH, is how to secure Justina's
corpse and take it home to her parents, as
her family had put him under enormous
pressure.
When our correspondent spoke with Sunday
on the phone on Thursday, he was barely
audible, as he had been thoroughly
overwhelmed by the tragedy. But shortly after
the incident, he had explained how it all
happened to the Ondo State Director, Legal
Aid Council of Nigeria, Kubiat Ikpidungise, who
gave the details to Saturday PUNCH.
The director told Saturday PUNCH that on
June 8, Sunday had just come back from the
farm when his pregnant wife and her six-year-
old nephew went back to the farm to pluck
corn. But while they were still at it, a tree
being felled somewhere close by someone fell
on them, and got them trapped.
Our correspondent gathered that the tree
cutter, on seeing what had happened, allegedly
took to his heels, leaving the woman and the
boy stuck under the tree. About one to two
hours later, the owner of the farm, known as
Aye, who sent the person to cut the tree,
arrived the farm to see the progress of work
done on his farm.
"That was when he heard the cries of a
woman and that of a child and he then went
towards that direction," Ikpidungise said.
She continued, "The man was able to pull out
the small boy. He asked the boy to take him
to their camp, which is occupied by cocoa
farm workers in the area. The man took the
boy to the camp for identification while the
woman remained under the tree. The people in
the camp identified the boy as he told them
what had happened.
"Painfully, the sister of the deceased, who is
the mother of the six-year-old boy, was there,
so, the three of them and some other persons
in the camp went to the forest to rescue the
woman, who had, understandably, lost
strength. All this while, the man who was
cutting the tree was on the run."
Thankfully, Ikpidungise added, they were still
able to rescue Justina alive, they rushed her
to a nearby clinic and she was still able to
answer some questions posed to her about
what happened. But on getting there, seeing
that her situation had become critical, the
medical director of the clinic referred them to
the Idanre general hospital.
Still optimistic, they headed for the general
hospital, but Justina gave up the ghost at the
gate.
It was learnt that the case was reported at
the Olofin police station in Idanre and the
owner of the farm, Aye, was arrested. He was
able to produce the tree cutter, who was also
arrested but was later released by the police
for reasons not clear to the family of
deceased.
Since Justina's death, the best treatment she
had got was to be laid on a slate on the floor
of the mortuary due to the inability of the
family to pay, while the foetus in her womb is
still there, given that she died pregnant. The
neglect, according to information, is due to
the inability of the leaders of the community
and the deceased's family to reach a
compromise on Justina's corpse, which was
already decaying.
Ikpidungise said, "As it is, the corpse is still at
the veranda of the mortuary at the General
Hospital, Idanre, covered with a tarpaulin or
something that looks like a thick nylon. The
king is insisting that they won't take the
corpse out of that community because it will
go against their tradition, while the husband
and the Akwa Ibom community are also
insisting that the corpse should be released to
them so she can be buried in her parents'
village, more so that she didn't die in the
forest.
"The man who cut the tree should have
rushed to the scene to rescue her or at least
call for help. But he ran away, leaving her and
the six-year-old boy trapped under the tree.
The police arrested him and set him free.
They need to produce the man who cut that
tree, because he's the only one who can
explain what happened. Why are they shielding
him?
"I don't have any problem with the custom of
the Idanre people, but somebody has died, she
did not die by the tree and she did not die in
the forest, let her be taken out for burial. The
first concern is how the corpse should leave
the veranda. In one of their threats, the
community said if the family of the deceased
insist on going away with the corpse, they
would send the Akwa Ibom people in the town
away and seven people would die, whether on
their way to bury her or while coming back.
"When did human life become so worthless
that it should be left unburied? Are we so
concerned with custom and tradition that we
treat human beings, even though dead, with
disdain, by putting her on the floor, with the
foetus still in her womb? If only they can take
the corpse to the general hospital in Akure,
she will be better treated. Where is Aye and
the man who caused Justina's untimely death;
is Aye not guilty of vicarious liability?"
Those were the questions on the lips of
Sunday, Ikpidungise, the Akwa Ibom
community and some other persons. Bothered
by the plight of Sunday and the deceased's
family, the Legal Aid director contacted the
founder of Jeshabel Touch-A-Heart
Foundation, a human rights advocacy group in
Lagos, which told Saturday PUNCH about the
brewing dissension as regards the treatment
being meted to the deceased and her family.
Founder and coordinator of the foundation,
Mrs. Favour Benson, described the
development as unfortunate, saying the
foundation also had reports of some other
corpses of people from Akwa Ibom State that
had been abandoned in different mortuaries in
the community.
Meanwhile, the President of Akwa Ibom
community, Ondo State chapter, Mr. Young
Akpan, in a telephone interview with our
correspondent, said the conflict at the
moment arose from the conflicting traditions
of the two communities. He queried the
release of the man who felled the tree by the
police.
He said, "They said in their tradition, if a tree
falls on somebody and the person dies, they
have to bury the person at the bottom of the
tree. We told them that in our own tradition
too, if a person dies in a strange land, our own
tradition demands that we take the corpse of
that person home for burial."
But what is the way forward? He said, "At the
end of the day, we resolved that they should
sponsor some people to her village to go and
tell her family and the head of that clan, if
they insist on taking that line of action. I even
told them to let somebody from the royal
council lead them there but they said no.
They, however, agreed to sponsor a delegation
home. The delegation came back on Friday
with a letter to the Oba of Idanre."
The letter, which was signed by the Ukwok
clan head, His Royal Highness John Ukpong,
appealed to the traditional ruler of Idanre
release the corpse for burial.
"We humbly appeal that the corpse be
released for burial," the letter, which was
sighted by our correspondent, partly read.
Meanwhile, our correspondent sought the
reaction of the traditional ruler of the
community, the Owa of Idanre, Oba Frederick
Aroloye, about the issue. He said according to
the tradition of the community, the woman
would have to be buried by the tree.
He said on the phone, "According to our
tradition in Idanre, if somebody dies as a
result of a fallen tree or he falls from a palm
tree, the person must be buried there. In the
same vein, if a person dies in the river, he or
she would be buried beside the river. That is
our tradition. They must abide with it."
While the two towns are still going back and
forth on the issue, the body of Justina still lies
at the veranda of the general hospital in
Idanre - where she has been since June 8,
2016.
"Her parents said we should return the corpse,
while the Idanre community is also insisting
that she can't be taken out of the town. The
head of her community has written a letter to
the Owa of Idanre. That is where we are
now," he said.
When asked why the tree cutter was released
and not prosecuted, the Police Public
Relations Officer in Ondo State, Mr. Femi
Joseph, promised to get back to our
correspondent, but he had yet to do so as of
press time.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
New
Death by fallen tree: Pregnant woman rots in Ondo mortuary over culture clash
About Toby Smile
Toby Hardeoty is a blogger that brings the lastest happenings to people online.
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