Unbelievable!
[size=14pt]Nigerian woman who died years ago, dies again in Benin Republic[/size]
By MAURICE ARCHIBONG, just back from Porto Novo
Monday, October 03, 2011


• Ekanem


Her story reads like a thriller: the type only a great novelist could spin. However, the somewhat grace-to-grass context and the many twists and turns of her life’s tale could make some of the classic tragedies spun by dramatist extraordinaire Sophocles of ancient Greece appear less calamitous.

First she died in Nigeria, was properly buried and forgotten, then suddenly she appeared in Benin Republic with a new life. Now she’s dead again. And then the real dead end.

To be candid, ruminating on this woman’s chequered sojourn on earth invoked Figure it out for yourself, the title of one of scores of crime thrillers by James Hardley Chase; for, at the end of series of fragmetary sequences; you are still left wondering, if you got this one right.

Initially, telephone numbers rose flying around, purportedly belonging to one of her believed children. But then, on one occasion during which the said son was reportedly traced on phone, he told them that his mother died a long time ago and that he was not going to come to claim the corpse of another woman.

He had moved on with his life in the northern part of Nigeria. Today, nobody owns up to still having the contact address of phone number of this mystery son. The same story is told of the documents removed from the late woman’s home. The official of the Nigerian community allegedly handed everything to the Beninoise authority. Confusion and more confusion.

Such was the variegated nature of this subject’s life that at some point, she served in the officer cadre of one of the nation’s armed forces only to die unloved and abadoned, and her corpse unwanted. This was a woman that actually lived overseas at some point; she apparently enjoyed the famed, good life as a spinster; and, at the domestic level was married and had children.

Sadly, however, everything eventually went so kaputt that she died a lonely and forsaken woman. So unwanted was she, that her children and practically every other family member did not only shun her in the twilight of her life but denied her outright, when informed she had passed on and that her body was waiting to be claimed in a morgue in a neighbouring foreign country.

The deceased gave up the ghost a few minutes after midnight on May 2, 2011; and, her remains were immediately deposited at Morgue Le Pardon, the only funerarium in Djeregbe. Djeregbe stands roughly 10 minutes’ drive from Porto Novo, capital of Benin Republic; and, coming from Seme-Krake, near Nigeria’s extreme south-western frontier; Djeregbe is barely five minutes’ drive after turning right at Porto Novo roundabout.

The fees for leaving a corpse at this morgue is CFA2,000 (N700) per day, but after the first 10 days; the cost rises to CFA3,000 (N1,050) daily. Counting from May 2, the mortuary bills hit CFA20,000 by May 12. With CFA3,000 daily subsequently, by June 30 the bills had climbed another CFA147,000; bringing the total to CFA167,000 or N58,450 at the current exchange rate of N350 to CFA1,000. Furthermore, by July 20, the bill had risen by another CFA60,000 (N20,000 approximately), thus bringing the total to N78,450. Add CFA33,000 (about N12,000) for another 11 days to July 31; and, we were talking of over N90,000. By August 30, the figure had exceeded N120,000.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/03/national-03-10-2011-001.html