Posted by By Simon Ebegbulem on
COMMUNITY leaders in Iruepken, Esan West local government area of Edo State, the ancestral home of the late First Lady of the nation, Mrs Stella Obasanjo, yesterday, shunned the burial of their daughter, citing alleged refusal by their in-law, President Olusegun Obasanjo to bury her in Esan land as tradition demands.
BENIN CITY - COMMUNITY leaders in Iruepken, Esan West local government area of Edo State, the ancestral home of the late First Lady of the nation, Mrs Stella Obasanjo, yesterday, shunned the burial of their daughter, citing alleged refusal by their in-law, President Olusegun Obasanjo to bury her in Esan land as tradition demands.
The community leaders and members of the deceased family, had earlier in the week, criticised the decision of the President to bury the remains of the First Lady in Ogun State and threatened that if the corpse of the First Lady was not brought home for burial, they would not participate in the burial.
Meanwhile, the Esan Youth Movement (EYM), an umbrella body of all Esan people yesterday, hailed their action, insisting that the President must bring the remains of their daughters home for proper burial as it is done traditionally.
When Saturday Vanguard visited Iruekpen community yesterday, all the leaders including the Odionwere (traditional head) of Iruepken, Pa Jonah Oziegbe, were at home, lamenting that the corpse of their daughter was not brought back for burial.
According to Pa Oziegbe, 'what they are doing in Ogun State today (yesterday) is not burial. It is against our tradition to bury our daughter, no matter where she is married to, outside her ancestral home. It is a taboo to do that and that was why we decided not to attend the Ogun State burial. We do not want to be part of illegality. It is illegal to bury our daughter outside."4