My friend recently returned from Bangui, CAR, last week, to attend his mother’s funeral (she was struck by lightning), only to be told he had to make a life pact with a crocodile, just like his mother did, before he could bury his mother. According to him, when his mother was a child, a bottle of blood was drawn from her left arm, and left limb of a captured crocodile, mixed together with some ritual herbs, and ritual stones, then fed to his mother and the crocodile.
The crocodile was released back into the wild. It is a longevity ritual, according to him. The human will live as long as the crocodile.
He said in his village---he is Igbo---they believe that crocodiles in the wild live to be around 100 years. If anything happens to the crocodile, the human feels it. The human can never die unless the crocodile dies. His mother was 63, and would have been 64 this year. They think the crocodile was also struck by lightning and that’s why his mother was struck by lightning too.
He does not want to do this ritual, because he does not believe in it. Why would anyone put their life in the hands of an animal which a hunter can kill any time?
The elders say his mother cannot be buried unless he does the ritual, to continue the omenala in his family. His father is late.
Is anyone familiar with this ritual? What can he do to get out of it? He wants to fly out but does not want to leave his mum unburied. Help!!!

The bolded part below got me laughing and can only be conjured up by exclusive savages and barbarians.

The human will live as long as the crocodile.
He said in his village---he is Igbo---they believe that crocodiles in the wild live to be around 100 years. If anything happens to the crocodile, the human feels it. The human can never die unless the crocodile dies. His mother was 63, and would have been 64 this year. They think the crocodile was also struck by lightning and that’s why his mother was struck by lightning too.

They were so certain that his mum will live up to 100 years, yet, couldn't be so sure what happened to the crocodile, and now they are guessing Mr Crocodile could have been struck by lightning also.

Abeg, wetin be the name of this village?

This is economic and mental terrorism. EFCC where una dey?

Savages and barbarians.

gaby:
The bolded part below got me laughing and can only be conjured up by exclusive savages and barbarians.

The human will live as long as the crocodile.
He said in his village---he is Igbo---they believe that crocodiles in the wild live to be around 100 years. If anything happens to the crocodile, the human feels it. The human can never die unless the crocodile dies. His mother was 63, and would have been 64 this year. They think the crocodile was also struck by lightning and that’s why his mother was struck by lightning too.

They were so certain that his mum will live up to 100 years, yet, couldn't be so sure what happened to the crocodile, and now they are guessing Mr Crocodile could have been struck by lightning also.

Abeg, wetin be the name of this village?

This is economic and mental terrorism. EFCC where una dey?

Savages and barbarians.

But the Yoruba in Ondo have a similar tradition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzoSIGSRyUI