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Corpses must be buried within 3 days in S’East —IPOB …threatens to shut down mortuaries in Igbo land
“Keeping our dead ones for so long is contributing to the major problems of Ndigbo”, says IPOB
The Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) has compelled people in the south east to bury their dead ones within 3 days as against longer days spent in committing them to earth.
A statement by the spokesperson of IPOB, Emma Powerful has attributed the problems facing Ndigbo in recent times to the longer days spent before burying their love ones.
Consequently, the group has warned all mortuaries in the south east to abide by the directive even as it has proposed shutting down morgues in the zone.
According to Powerful, he said IPOB has viewed spiritually the problems of Ndigbo and discovered it was caused by this norm. He noted that the new practice negates the ancient culture of Ndigbo where their dead ones were buried within three days.
He said “The global movement and noble family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU wish to announce to all Biafrans, friends of Biafra and lovers of Biafra freedom that it is high time Biafrans start burying our dead within three days as it was in ancient times.
“IPOB has gone too deep in the spiritual and finds out that keeping our dead ones for so long is contributing to the major problems of Ndigbo in this present times.
“Our ancestors were burying their dead ones within three days and that is our culture and it helped our ancestors spiritually. Igbos have very rich and spiritually based culture which our ancestors maintained from the beginning of time.
“The present habit of keeping dead bodies more than three days and even months and years in the mortuary have had dire effects on our land and contributed to the spiritual weakness of Igbo Nation and of the entire Biafraland, moral decadence and all manner of evil that have taken root in our land.
” Now that IPOB has come to realise that this alien practice of keeping the dead on land rather than committed to mother earth has had a very negative impact on our people and upon our land. It has therefore become very imperative to urge our people to revert to the old practices that has very positive effect upon our wellbeing both spiritually and otherwise,” Powerful said.
Given further explanation Powerful said: “After some thorough investigation we have come to the realization that all the reasons given by our people which cause the unnecessary delay in burying our dead within a short period are neither cogent nor important enough.
“These reasons are all man-made mostly monetary conditions from the bereaved families, traditional rites, churches and Umunna. Some of these reasons were self imposed while others are just to punish the deasead families and make money from the dead.
“We therefore, beg our people, religious leaders, traditional rulers and mostly the Umunna both men and women to stop tasking bereaved families as a condition before they are allowed to commit their departed loved one to mother earth. Some of our people have turned burial as a carnival and asking families to pay levies or debt for their dead ones is an abomination and must be stopped forthwith.
“As it was in past, bereaved families should be allowed to commit their dead ones to mother earth while a date for the burial ceremony is fixed for a later date as well as whatever levies that need to be collected.
“But using reasons of non payment of burial levies to stockpile dead bodies in the mortuaries is what IPOB don’t want again in our territory. Our people should revert to our old healthy tradition of burying the dead and do the needful at specific times within their reach,” the IPOB spokesman stated.
However, the group has vowed to engage church leaders, town unions and traditional rulers and Umunna on the issue.
“We are advising them to prepare their minds on this clarion call because IPOB will develop strategy of curtailing the excessive use of mortuary in our Region. This strategy may include compelling the shut down of so many mortuaries littered all over our land. The only dead bodies that can be allowed to stay longer in the mortuary are those in the court or under police investigation.
“Igbos are shrinking in life because we dishonour the dead by keeping dead bodies in mortuaries for too long than necessary in these mortuaries. Any nation, tribe or family that keeps the dead without putting the corpse into the dust is causing a disservice to themselves.
“IPOB has gone too far in our work to restore our dear Nation of Biafra and we cannot loose the opportunity because of unburied people littered in various mortuaries. Some corpses have been left in the mortuary for one, two and three years because of self gratification, levies or bills from families, churches and Umunnas.
“We are advising the families, Church Authorities and Umunna to reverse this unhealthy and wicked trend before IPOB begins to implement this new policy. The unburied has turned into zombies and having negative consequences on our peace and survival as a Nation.
“The most disturbing aspect of this practice of keeping dead bodies in mortuaries that is our people who died in other parts of the country even outside the country are brought down to Biafraland and deposited in mortuary for months and years before burial.
“Alaigbo have been turned into a gigantic mortuary where dead bodies are dumped with the accompanying dire consequences to our land and this attitude and practice must stop forthwith.
“Owners of mortuaries in our land must start planning for another business. We are not against those engaged in mortuary business but we are against keeping dead ones longer than necessary because we are planning to march and we cannot keep dead bodies unburied before we match.
“IPOB is encouraging our people on the need to accord respect to our departed beloved ones by burying them immediately. In olden days our ancestors embalmed the dead in the house and bury within three days. Ndigbo were not cowards and lazy but today our land is devastated and destroyed completely by unknown gunmen and IPOB will not allow that to continue,” Powerful further stated.
Officers of the Kogi police command have arrested Elijah Olorunsuwa, a lecturer with the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), over allegations of cybercrime in connection with WhatsApp messages on a road project in the state.
Olorunsuwa, a social commentator, was arrested on Wednesday at his residence in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, and taken to Kogi state.
He was later released on Wednesday evening and asked to return on Thursday.
Speaking with TheCable after his release, Olorunsuwa said around 5am on Wednesday, about eight police officers arrived at his residence in Ilorin to arrest him.
Olorunsuwa said he requested that the police officers should allow him to drive his own car and follow them to the nearest area command in Ilorin.
The lecturer said when they arrived at the area command in Ilorin, there were no police officers to attend to them. Afterwards, he decided to join the police officers in their van as they agreed to take him to the Kwara police command headquarters.
According to Olorunsuwa, the police officers reneged on the agreement and drove him to Kogi.
When the lecturer got to the police station in Kogi, he was shown a petition reportedly written against him by Jerry Omodara, security adviser to the Kogi state government.
THE PETITION
In the petition dated September 11 and addressed to the Kogi police commissioner, Omodara alleged that Olorunsuwa has “consistently made false allegation and publications” against the Kogi government using social media.
The security adviser said the lecturer’s recent social media post against the Kogi government was on the award of the Kabba-Oke-Offin-Olle-lluke road project.
Omodara said the Kogi government published advertisements in newspapers for the award of the reconstruction of the road.
The security adviser said after the newspaper publications, Olorunsuwa posted on social media that the road “project was not of the state government but World Bank sponsored and the state was to pay a counterpart fund”.
Omodara said Olorunsuwa’s post is “false, malicious and with the intention to deceive unsuspecting public and discredit the government of the day”.
“This does not go down well with the government as well as myself being from that area that have consistently reminded the government on the need to reconstruct the road,” the petition reads.
“It is therefore not acceptable to the government of the State and the people the road is supposed to serve.
“Consequently, Mr. Elijah Olounsuwa is to be apprehended and to be made to tender all documents available to him from or by the World Bank to back his claim, otherwise he is to be charged for cybercrime and prosecuted.”
THE WHATSAPP CONVERSATION
Olorunsuwa told TheCable that someone posted a message on the Oke Offin community WhatsApp group that the state government was reconstructing the Kabba-Oke-Offin-Olle-lluke road.
The lecturer said he commented that the road project is sponsored by the World Bank.
Olorunsuwa said that after his comment, Omodara replied to him and asked that the post should be deleted. He added that the state security adviser threatened that he should expect legal action if the WhatsApp post is not deleted.
The lecturer said he and Omodara hail from Oke Offin in Kabba/Bunu LGA of Kogi state.
“I told him that he should feel free to take me to court. I didn’t pull down the post,” the lecturer said.
“However, some elderly men on the platform reached out to me and appealed for the need to maintain peace and decorum.”
Olorunsuwa said that after the appeal from the elderly men, he deleted his WhatsApp comments and reached out to Omodara via the phone.
The lecturer said during the phone conversation with Omodara, the security adviser told him that Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, had directed that he should be prosecuted over the post.
Olorunsuwa said he asked the security adviser if the Kogi governor was a member of the community WhatsApp group chat.
He said Omodara asked him to publish a retraction of his WhatsApp posts about the road project, adding that he refused to do so, which led to his arrest.
OMODARA REACTS
Reacting to the development, Omodara said Olorunsuwa published a “false claim” about the funding of the road project via WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
The security adviser told TheCable that he asked the lecturer to retract his post on the WhatsApp group since the road project is being funded by the Kogi state government.
Omodara said Olorunsuwa responded that he should be mourning his late cousin rather than clamouring for the withdrawal of the post.
He added that during a telephone conversation, he informed the lecturer that the road project was solely funded by the state government and not the World Bank, as he claimed.
The security adviser said Olorunsuwa refused to retract the social media post, which prompted the state government to petition the Kogi police commissioner. Cable
Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, has exercised his constitutional powers under the Prerogative of Mercy to grant remission to Mr. Chidozie Nwangwu, popularly known as Akwa Okuko tiwara aki, effectively bringing his jail term to an end.
Nwangwu, who was reputed for the practice of okite, a form of money ritual, was convicted in February 2026 on several counts of violating the Anambra State Homeland Security Law.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment following a plea bargain between the Anambra State Government and Nwangwu. His sentence was originally expected to end next month, but the remission granted by Governor Soludo has resulted in his discharge.
Governor Soludo announced the remission on Friday during a visit to correctional centres in Anambra State, including the Onitsha and Amawbia Correctional Centres.
The Onitsha Correctional Centre currently houses about 739 inmates, making it the largest correctional facility in the state, while the Amawbia facility accommodates about 602 inmates despite having been built for only 280 inmates.
Welcoming the governor at Amawbia, the State Controller of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Ezinne Onuoha, expressed appreciation to him for the visit.
Soludo said his visit was part of his routine engagement with inmates and correctional facilities across the state.
“This is part of my routine visit. After I was sworn in, I visited the Correctional Centres. I have come to see you just to be sure you are okay,” the governor told the inmates.
The governor subsequently toured the facilities before holding a town hall meeting with some of the inmates, many of whom have spent years awaiting trial.
Cases involving murder, child trafficking, robbery, theft and land-related disputes were among those highlighted during the interaction.
Soludo noted that Anambra has an unusually high number of court cases, saying, “Anambra has the second highest number of cases in Nigeria.”
He urged the inmates to use their time in the correctional centres to acquire skills and reflect on their lives, stressing that the ultimate purpose of incarceration should include rehabilitation and positive transformation.
“The purpose of being here is so you become better human beings. If you finish staying here and do not become a new person, you have missed the idea,” he said.
The governor assured the inmates that his administration would not abandon them, emphasizing that they remain citizens with a role to play in building a better society.
“We will never forget anyone. We are all citizens, and we all have a responsibility to make this place a livable city. The objective is to make Anambra and Nigeria better. Society will get better if people become responsible citizens,” Soludo said.
He also encouraged inmates to take advantage of the state government’s plea-bargain initiative to facilitate the speedy resolution of their cases.
The governor disclosed that a committee headed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, had been constituted to review some cases and recommend inmates who may qualify for pardon or remission next month.
Governor Soludo was accompanied on the visits by members of his administration and other officials.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has announced that it will participate in the 2027 general elections following a Court of Appeal judgment setting aside a Federal High Court ruling that ordered its deregistration.
The party’s National Leader, Henry Seriake Dickson, disclosed this in a statement reacting to the appellate court’s decision in Abuja.
Dickson said the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment delivered by Justice Isah Dashen of the Federal High Court in Lokoja a few months ago.
The statement reads in full:
“Today, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lokoja, delivered by Justice Isah Dashen a few months ago, which purported to order the deregistration of our party, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
“In a judgment delivered by the presiding Justice, Mohammed Danjuma, and read by Justice Hassan, the Court ruled in favour of allowing our appeal, which challenged the faulty ruling of the Federal High Court, Lokoja, and accordingly, set aside Justice Dashen’s judgment.
“We want to use this opportunity once again to commend the Nigerian judiciary, and in particular, Hon. Justice Danjuma and Hon. Justice Hassan, for upholding the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary and, by their decisions, expanding the sphere of multiparty democratic participation in Nigeria.
“We have said repeatedly that the NDC was set up to expand the frontier of multiparty democracy in Nigeria. Justice Dashen’s judgment a few months ago was an unexpected assault on our constitutional right to participate and an attempt to narrow the democratic space.
“Happily, Today, by the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Nigerian democratic space has been protected, and the NDC’s right to participate in all political activities as a registered political party has been upheld.
“I congratulate all members and candidates of our great party, the NDC, and thank Nigerians for their prayers and support.
“When the unexpected judgment of the Lokoja Federal High Court was delivered, we were bombarded with several calls for sympathy, support and prayers. Today, our collective prayers have been answered.
“The NDC continues to exist. Our registration remains valid and subsisting, and we and all our candidates will participate in all elections in 2027 and beyond, by the grace of God.
“Everyone should now focus on the campaigns, prepare for the elections, and focus on the task ahead to face the APC and defeat them at the polls.
“A resort to arm-twisting, inducing or intimidating the judiciary will not work. We remain confident in the strength of our message, the commitment of our members, the viability of our candidates, and the support of Nigerians.
“With this conviction, we look forward to the forthcoming elections and are confident that the NDC will emerge victorious at the polls, by the grace of God.
“The fight for Nigeria’s multiparty democracy continues and, by the grace of God, we will emerge victorious.”
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