A widow in Abia State, Blessing Chioma has cried out to the state government and other relevant authorities to help her recover the ‘stolen’ corpse of her late husband, Ben Nwankpa.
Our correspondent gathered the corpse of late Nwankpa was exhumed and ferried to an unknown location by one his sons, Amaechi.
Nwankpa, a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) served in different capacities in the administration of Gov Okezie Ikpeazu before defecting to the Young Progressives Party (YPP) and kicking the bucket.
A visibly-livid Chioma demanded the immediate return of her late husband’s corpse to his resting place.
Nwankpa had died on July 23, 2022 and his remains was buried on December 28, 2022 but shortly after his interment, Amaechi said to be his son born out of wedlock stormed the venue of the funeral ceremony with armed thugs, exhumed and took away the corpse.
The grief-stricken widow also called on the Ike Mgboko Autonomous Community in Obingwa Local Government Area to take the bull by the horn and get to the root of the bizarre incident.
Chioma said she never wished to get entangled in a love triangle and regretted the treatment being meted out to her.
According to her, she was dismayed when after wedding in 1991, her husband told her he had a son out of wedlock.
Hear Chioma; “This news got me heart-broken as I felt betrayed by my husband who never told me about his strange son before getting married to me. But because of love and respect I have for my husband, I accepted the boy into my home’.
“The mistake I made was that I accepted to nurture a strange son, who was only four years old when my husband brought him to the house, due to my compassionate disposition as a young bride that was primed to love and cherish her husband, albeit unconditionally and without reservation.
“I took this boy in, showed him love and gave him motherly care as I did to my other six biological children”.
Chioma disclosed that things went awry in the family shortly after Amaechi was incarcerated in America for seven years for engaging in advance-fee fraud.
According to her, Amaechi got embittered that some of the members of the family had experienced some level of success during the seven years he spent in jail, house arrest and probation.
Also speaking, two of the late Nwankpa’s other children, Benjamin and Whitney Obiageri, appealed to Amaechi to return their father’s corpse.
They expressed indignation over the ill-treatment meted out to them by their step brother.
“We are good people, we have never planned evil against anyone. All we are after is our education and how to be better people. We never knew something like this could ever happen to us, we feel betrayed.
“Despite my mother’s efforts in raising up everyone. To raise a child in America is very expensive, let alone the seven of us. Our mother single handedly raised everyone, including Amaechi, we wonder why he could treat us this way. This is a big trauma”, they said.
Adding his voice, Iheanyi Onyenma, who served Ben Nwankpa for over 20 years described Amaechi’s action as abominable.
Onyenma alleged that Amaechi, was misled by one Nkiru Amaefula, a niece of the late Nwankpa.
In a telephone interview, the Traditional Ruler of Ike Mgboko Autonomous Community, Eze Onyedilazu expressed sadness over the incident.
He said they tried all they could to stop Amaechi from carrying out the dastardly act but he overpowered them.
The traditional ruler said they are however doing their best to ensure the corpse is returned.
