By PETRUS OBI, Enugu

…As family disagrees over burial

The corpse of Chief Theodore Ezeobi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who died about four months ago, was yester­day morning stolen from the mortuary of Mother of Christ Specialist Hos­pital in Enugu.

Before the sudden disap­pearance of the corpse, the family of the deceased had been having a running battle over his burial that pitted the first son, Theodore (Jnr), against his mother and other siblings.

A burial announcement, which was published in the newspapers, fixing the burial for July 31, was quickly dis­owned by another advertorial signed by daughter to the de­ceased, Chinelo Ezeobi, who advised well-wishers and the public to disregard the publi­cation as the correct informa­tion for the burial would be made public at the right time

Chinelo, who spoke to Daily Sun on phone, said they were shocked to learn yesterday morning that their father’s corpse had been re­moved from the mortuary.

She said unknown persons broke into the mortuary and took away the corpse.

She also confirmed that the family had been having issues with the first son over the burial.

Following the develop­ment, the police in Enugu had invited the hospital mor­tician, some security men from the hospital and some top management staff for questioning.

A close hospital source al­leged that the mortician had gone to the mortuary to de­posit another corpse shortly after midnight when he dis­covered that the mortuary had been burgled.

Sensing trouble, he searched and discovered that one of the corpses in his care had been removed. Consequently, he raise the alarm and at the same time informed the bereaved family of the development.

The source also disclosed that there was a standing or­der that nobody should be al­lowed to see the corpse apart from few identified members of the immediate family.

A letter was also made available to Daily Sun, in which the hospital through its counsel, Chief Charles Ogbo, in reply to a letter from one of the sons of the deceased demanding the release of Chief Ezeobi’s corpse to him, stated that it was not the prac­tice of the hospital to release a corpse to persons who did not deposit it in their mortuary.

The letter read in part: “Our clients will release the corpse to your mother who deposited same, you have the option of coming in com­pany of your mother and on production of the receipt, our clients will release the corpse to you if she consents.

“Your late father was brought to Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital in Enugu on January 20, 14 by your mother, Iyom Bernadette Ezeobi, who stayed with him until his death on March 28, 14. Your mother deposited his corpse in our clients’ mor­tuary and was issued with a receipt.

“You never showed up in hospital for the whole period your late father was hospital­ised. On April 25, 14 (almost one month after his death), you went to our clients de­manding to see his corpse and they rightly refused on grounds that you did not de­posit the corpse.”

Efforts to reach the first son of Chief Theodore Eze­obi, Theodore Junior, failed as at the time of this report as his mobile phones were not reachable.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Rela­tions Officer (PPRO), Eb­ere Amaraizu, said the police were trying to unravel the mystery behind the missing corpse.

When Daily Sun visited the Central Police Station in Enugu, the mortician, who was in handcuff and some management staff of the hos­pital were seen in the station.


Source: Sun