Death by fallen tree: Pregnant woman rots in Ondo
mortuary over culture clash
Tunde Ajaja
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.
