Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
For the people of Akile community, a small settlement close to the Nigerian Air Force Base in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the last five years have not been a pleasant one, owing to the location of a mortuary in the area.
The settlement which is located along the Makurdi/Gboko road with a population of about 3000 people stands in danger of epidemic outbreak not only on the account of gory sights of battered corpses but also as a result of constant stench that pervades the air around the community from the decomposing human remains deposited in the small morgue.
Although the mortuary which has no name or signpost to indicate its presence in the community, is said to be built by the NKST Church, but residents say it is run by a contractor whose name was given as Emeka Agu from Enugu State.
The mortuary which is directly facing a new government layout allocated to individuals is not fenced, thus giving unhindered access to domestic animals belonging to residents of the community.
When our correspondent visited the area, piles of tattered clothes said to have been removed from the corpses were seen carelessly dumped in one corner of the mortuary while several goats lay leisurely on its the corridor.
A problem to us, say residents
One of the residents, Tersoo Gbenda, who spoke to our correspondent said the mortuary has become a big menace to everyone in the sleepy settlement. “I was born in 1979 in this village,” he said. “When they (NKST Church) came to build the mortuary, they claimed it is their land but we are all facing the brunt now. The mortuary has become a big problem to us in this community. Sometimes those bringing corpses to the mortuary often mistakenly take my house to be the morgue. The mortuary is in the open and the manner in which they dispose clothes removed from corpses is very appalling.
“And because the mortuary is not fenced, our goats and chickens have free access to the premises and drink from the water they use in washing the corpses. As you can see, some of my goats are at present lying there now.”
Yama Samuel, another resident of the community who disclosed that he just moved into the area over a year ago after he got a plot of land from government, expressed sadness over the development.
“We have challenges with the location of this mortuary here,” he said. “By just passing by, you can perceive some obnoxious smell. Clothes from corpses littered everywhere and the water they used in washing the corpses are carelessly.”
He also claimed that, at the moment, the mortuary has no stable mortician or mortuary attendant stressing that sometimes, corpses that are brought there are left unattended to for hours or even days until a mortician who either comes from Wannunne in Tarka Local government area of Benue or from Kogi state comes around to attend to them.
While noting that members of the community had severally approached the operators to express their concern without any positive response, Yama urged the state government to relocate the mortuary from the community.
“I heard that the community had approached them but the church said the land belongs to them and they can do whatever they want on it.”
How it all started
Ephraim Atema, a farmer who said he had lived in the community for the past 25 years recall how a contractor came to build the mortuary about five years ago. “When they started putting up the building here, we tried to find out what they intended to do there but the contractor, an Igbo man, said he was handling the contract for somebody. Later, we discovered it was mortuary that they were building. We usually see some strange boys lurking in the bush and after a while, they would enter the mortuary and we suspect they usually come to remove some body parts from the corpses.
“We also have issues of bad odour emitting from the mortuary. They used to have a mortuary attendant who took very good care of the place but he was later discovered to be a cultist and sacked. Since then, we have been experiencing bad odour. We don’t need this mortuary here at all and that is why we are calling on government to do something about it,” he said.
Also, another resident, Ihua Peter Aodnona, who lamented both the health and societal implications of the mortuary in the area said domestic animals are now at the mercy of the remains from the mortuary. “The health implication of that place is that at times, most of the dead bodies that are brought there, our chickens and goats go to drink the water used in washing bodies there and later we kill and eat them. Most of the dead bodies are decayed and there is no mortuary attendants taking care of the place at the moment. Most of the attendants that were brought are either cultists or criminals.
“What we are saying is that we are part of the NAF Base community and any corpse can be deposited at the NAF mortuary. That is why we are appealing to the government to move the mortuary from here, we don’t need it.”
Operators debunk community’s claims
Contacted by Saturday Sun, Dennis Akor, health worker in charge of NKST Health Clinic, Akile, debunked the claims that the mortuary was posing health hazards to the community. He told our correspondent that although the church owns the mortuary, it is being run in partnership with an Igbo man.
“To be sincere, the church built the mortuary but one man, Mr. Emeka Agu, from Enugu State is in partnership with the church in operating it. Mr. Agu owns mortuaries in several places. The mortuary doesn’t have a name. We (the church) have a very big land here and that’s why we decided to site the mortuary there. It used to be a very vast and empty land until government allocated the land to people.”
Expressing his disappointment with what he sees as pointless complaints from the community, he said:”Sometimes when you are doing a good business, some people don’t like you for that. Because we are by the roadside, we receive many cases of accident victims some in decomposing state or very bad shape. In the process of trying to drain off the fluid from the dead bodies, you might perceive some odour for the first day or so but that doesn’t last for long. Nobody in this community has ever come to the church to complain about the mortuary. The health facility belongs to the community because elders of the community authorized the location of the mortuary here and there is a process of doing things in NKST church.
“The mortuary takes average of ten corpses at a time but it is the Igbo man who employs people to do the embalmment. The mortician comes on daily basis to check the corpses. I live in the same community with my family and even some of my grandchildren, so I couldn’t have been a party to anything that would harm anyone here.”
Our correspondent’s attempt to speak with the Pastor of NKST church, Akile, was not successful as he declined comment, noting that he agrees with whatever the health worker said. After obtaining the phone number of one Mr. Chima Aneke, said to be the mortician in charge of the mortuary but based in Wannunne, our correspondent put a call to him seeking to speak with him. But he declined and said that his brother, one Ikechukwu, was actually the mortician in charge and should be the one to talk to. He noted that although Ikechukwu doesn’t permanently stay in Akile, he usually visits the community and stays for at least three days before returning to his base. Aneke said that Ikechukwu was already on his way to Akile that day before confirming that their boss, Mr. Agu, has mortuaries in many communities in Benue, Kogi and Enugu states.
Govt. wades into the matter, summons operators
But speaking on the matter when contacted, Dr. Elijah Omengala, Director Medical Services, Benue State Ministry of Health and Human Services who visited the community, after being informed about its presence from our correspondent said that he discovered that the mortuary was operating illegally as the owners did not get an approval for it from the state Ministry of Health before locating it there. Describing the community’s fear of epidemic outbreak as a genuine one, he said he has already summoned the operators to the ministry’s headquarters in Makurdi.