Search Site: OnlineNigeria

Close






Controversy trails burial of ex-military chief

Posted by Musa Odoshimokhe on 2008/11/14 | Views: 612 |

Controversy trails burial of ex-military chief


It was a painful development as the family of Air Commodore David Edafioka (rtd) who died on October 7, 2008, could not agree on how to give their breadwinner a befitting burial.

It was a painful development as the family of Air Commodore David Edafioka (rtd) who died on October 7, 2008, could not agree on how to give their breadwinner a befitting burial.

The first wife, Vero Edafioka, living in England, accused the second wife, Stella of not following due process when she by-passed the entire family to secretly arrange a burial of the retired air officer.

Vero, who had been divorced for the past ten years, was weeping when she narrated her story. She recalled: "For Stella to put up obituary advert everywhere, announcing the death of my husband without the agreement of the entire family showed that she is a wicked woman. When we had a meeting with the reverend father of the Catholic church over the burial of my husband, it was resolved that the burial will not take place after we explained to him why we had to respect my husband's tradition but she went secretly in the night trying to remove the corpse. This is evil, what will I tell my children if she had succeeded? I was married to him for 18 years and had three children for him".

Stella was said to have come with the photocopies of the death certificate that would have enabled her to remove the corpse from the hospital but on tendering them, she was asked at the mortuary by attendants to produce the original copies which she could not do.

Vero and some other members of the family said they came to the mortuary because they suspected that Stella would come and remove the corpse and their suspicion was finally confirmed as they met her trying to remove the corpse.

Vero maintained that, she had to divorce her husband when Stella came into their home, claiming that Stella's presence was to sow the seed of discord between her and the late commodore.

Mark Edafioka, the brother of the late air officer, condemned the action of Stella as abominable. He said if she had buried the air officer it would have resulted in a stain on the family's name because, the air officer's father had to be buried first. "The late air officer had already fixed the first week of December, 2008 for the final burial of his father before he passed on, hence, the father must be buried first before the Air Force officer would be buried. Anything contrary to this would have a grave consequence on the family".

Mrs Taiwo Ogunsola, the managing director of TOS Funeral where the corpse is kept, said as a result of the controversy surrounding the issue, she would only release the corpse based on the advice of her lawyer. She advised the family to go home to resolve the issue. The family lawyer had also waded into the matter stating that all would be resolved amicably.

Meanwhile, Stella refused to say anything despite all the accusations from the other parties involved. She was said to have no child for the late air officer and had printed posters announcing the obituary of the late commodore duly signed by David Edafioka Jnr., child of the first wife. David's mother, Vero derided the action of Stella for using her son's name on behalf of the family.

Read Full Story Here.... :
Leave Comment Here :