A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY INTENDS TO MASS BURY CORPSES THAT HAVE BEEN ABANDONED FOR OVER A DECADE

Babatunji Wusu –

The authorities have given the relatives of 33 abandoned bodies in Godfrey Okoye University’s mortuary in Enugu State, Southeastern Nigeria, a 21-day deadline to evacuate their remains.

Prof. Christian Anieke, the university’s Vice Chancellor, stated that failing to comply with the evacuation order will result in a mass grave for the deceased.

Anieke stated at a press conference in Enugu on Sunday that the injunction issued on November 13 is required for the university to refurbish the morgue.

He went on to say that some of the bodies had been at the morgue for more than eighteen years. The Vice-Chancellor stressed that the morgue must undergo renovations and enhancements in order to be fit for use as a teaching hospital.

“We have a court order to bury the 33 abandoned dead in our teaching hospital morgue in mass graves.

It is difficult because we want to renovate the hospital and make it suitable for a teaching hospital, and some of the dead have been in the mortuary for more than 18 years.

“I’m pleading with those who have bodies at the mortuary to come take them out.

“Here, we are discussing people, not animals. According to Anieke, “Go and see if your relatives are there,” as reported by The PUNCH.

Prof. Cajetan Nwadinigwe, the teaching hospital’s chief medical director, revealed that many of the remains found there had not been properly recognized.

Nwadinigwe stated in his statement that the names of fourteen deceased people were the same.

He saw that several of the corpses appeared to have been at the mortuary for more than ten years, but there was no record of when they were brought in.

“This is our basis for approaching the court and publicizing the warning in newspapers for families to see,” Nwadinigwe continued.