TVC E. Emmanuel was asked to marry his wife’s corpse because he did not perform the marriage rites on her before she died.Hours after the birth of her twin girls, Margaret Emmanuel gave up the ghost, leaving her husband with the twins and their three grown-up siblings. To make matters worse, Margaret’s family in Ebonyin are demanding that Emmanuel fulfils a vital aspect of their culture before the burial ceremonies even commence.
At first it was congratulations and celebration galore as Madam Margaret Emmanuel was delivered of a set of beautiful twin girls. But few hours after, the joyful mood turned sour and mourning took over, as news filtered in that mother of the twins had passed on.
She gave up the ghost on her way to the hospital, living the twins behind without the very vital motherly care. It also marked the beginning of the trauma of her husband and father of the twins, Mr. Adejo Emmanuel. Aside being shattered by the news, he was suddenly faced with a somewhat insurmountable challenge of weaning two infants alone. But the trauma did not end there, only Emmanuel didn’t know at this point in time.
While lamenting his predicament, Emmanuel said, “My life is like a balloon that was punctured with a pin, which immediately deflated it of all the joy. When a woman is pregnant the prayer is to hear the babies’ cries and that of the mother’s joy; but now the mother is gone, leaving the babies.”
That was the story of the Emmanuel family last December 21. As if the agony was not enough, the deceased’s family members sent a message to the husband that he has to obey their custom and tradition by performing certain rituals and rites. Chief amongst these rights includes performing the mandatory marriage ceremonies with the deceased wife, an activity the couple had failed to perform while the late Margaret was alive. Without that, they told him that he is barred from coming to his wife’s village in Akenze, Ebonyin State, let alone, burying the corpse.
