Angry villagers demolish morgue, molest owner in Imo

From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

INDIGENES of Awaka Mbutu community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo state recently destroyed a private morgue located in the community after beating the owner into coma.
Sunday Sun gathered that the irate indigenes had swooped on the morgue and demolished its building and perimeter fence with about eight corpses still in its custody.
It was learnt that prior to the demolition of the morgue, leaders of the community had written to churches in the area to tell its members to immediately evacuate the remains of their loved ones deposited there if they did not want to entertain regrets.
It was further learnt that the community leaders had written a petition to the Federal Ministry of Health complaining about the establishment of a private morgue close to peoples’ homes, claiming that it was a threat to their health and safety. Sources told Sunday Sun that the Ministry had allegedly given its approval to the community to pull the morgue down.
Investigations showed that trouble had started for the owner of the morgue, Mr. Adimchi Onwusukwu, an indigene of the community, in August, this year, when the community leaders warned him to stop further development of the morgue, but he ignored their warnings.
One of the community leaders, who pleaded anonymity, told Sunday Sun that the community had some years back resisted the building of a morgue in the community and had reminded Onwusukwu about that.
“We had earlier warned Adimchi Onwusukwu last month to stop his mortuary project in the community, which was close to peoples’ homes, but he disregarded our warnings and continued with the project. We told him that we are not against his progress, but that building a mortuary close to peoples’ homes in the community is unacceptable.
“When he refused to stop, we decided to petition the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja and they replied that the community has the right to remove it, because it was not proper to establish a mortuary in a residential area because of the health hazard it constitutes,” he said.