A man force to marry corpse of late wife in aba anambra state

Feb 22, 2016 – Man Forced To Marry Corpse Of
Dead Wife In Onitsha Anambra State Because He
Didn’t Pay Her Bride Price While She Was Alive
A man has married the corpse of his late wife
following his inability to perform her traditional
rites when she was alive in Onitsha city in
Anambra State, eastern Nigeria.
The marriage attracted many dignitaries from
both the couples’ families, friends and well
wishers last Saturday in Onitsha city where both
family reside.
The couple lived as husband and wife without
payment of her bride price or dowry and had six
children before the wife fell sick and died.
Thereafter, her family insisted that the man must
marry the corpse by paying the dowry and
returning the six children they had before the
deceased would be buried.
We gathered that the man identified as Nnanna
Ude cohabited with the late Faith for 12 years as
husband and wife without performing any
traditional rites such as payment of bride price
and giving wine to the woman’s family as
demanded by Igbo culture.
The couple live at G.M.O. Road, off Atani Road
in Ogbaru Local Government Area in Old Ontisha
Province in Anambra State.
While the relationship lasted, Ude and Faith had
six children and the family of Faith had advised
Ude on many occasions to come and officially
marry Faith by at least paying her bride price.
Ude who is a businessman, promised to do so for
many years but did not until Faith died last
week.
Trouble started after Faith fell ill and died and
Ude went to her family to inform them about her
death.
He was told to return the six children he had
with Faith outside wedlock and then come and
marry the corpse as tradition demands before he
can bury her as his wife.
They warned him that if he fails to do so and
went ahead to bury her, he would join her in the
grave within one week as the gods of their land
would fight back.
We gathered that Udeh hails from Ideato in Imo
State and met the deceased in Ontisha who is
from Anambra State.
On the children, Ude was told to return the
children to Faith’s family because he cannot
claim those children since he did not marry
Faith.
Therefore, any child and property Faith had
belonged to her family.
This became an issue as the disagreement
lingered until the two families came together last
week to amicably resolve the matter.
We gathered that it was agreed that Ude would
marry the corpse by paying the bride price and
performing traditional wedding before he would
be allowed to bury the deceased.
Also Ude was told that he should return the six
children first until after he marries Faith’s corpse
properly and bury her before the issue of the
children would be finally discussed.
The traditional marriage was performed last
Saturday while the burial would take place this
Friday in Imo State.