- Says ‘My wife and I suffered till she died, I don’t have money to marry her now’
BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Members of Ekechi Nwankwo family, natives of Effuim community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have allegedly mandated a man, Festus Oje, to marry their dead daughter for cohabiting with her for years without performing the necessary traditional marriage rites.
They accused Oje of abducting their daughter, Amarachi, six years ago, and making her his wife without coming to see them, his in-laws, for the traditional marriage processes and functions.
After giving birth to four children within the space of six years, Amarachi reportedly died mysteriously in November 2023.
Oje had informed his wife’s family members of her death and had been making efforts to bury her before her families kicked and cancelled the burial plans. She had two sets of twins for him before her demise.
They accused Oje of not paying Amarachi’s bride price before her demise and noted that the punishment for his action was for him to marry the dead woman in a flamboyant traditional wedding ceremony known as “Igbankwu” and also pay her bride price.
The deceased woman’s elder brother, Solomon Ekechi, said their supposed son-in-law abducted his sister about six years ago, adding that Oje could only be pardoned if he opted to perform the full marriage rites in accordance with their tradition.
Ekechi said Oje’s failure to perform the said rites meant he was ready to answer for the death of Amara and that the children would no longer be his because in their culture, paternity of a child “is determined by who pays the mother’s bride price.”
“My sister cannot be buried until the said husband performs all the marriage rites. In fact, we are not yet aware that she died. We only know that he abducted my sister about six years ago, we cannot call it marriage because he refused to perform the necessary rites. He knows how to announce her demise to us and until then, Amarachi is alive.
“As a punishment for not performing the rites earlier when she was alive, all the rites must be performed in full,including a flamboyant Igbankwu before the burial can take place.
At worst, we the family members will bury her in our compound and the husband will forfeit the children.
“It is worthy of note that in the culture and traditions of clans in Abakaliki zone of Ebonyi State, paternity of a child is given to anyone who pays the mother’s bride price. So, the decision is in line with our culture, not my personal decision,” he disclosed.
Meanwhile, Oje lamented that his wife was taken to a traditional healing home for treatment but she died after some weeks, despite efforts to save her.
“I am being punished for living with the one I loved. Things have not been easy for me and my wife. I didn’t perform the rites earlier because of hardship. The said full traditional marriage rites will take me nothing less than N500,000 and even more, but I don’t have such money anywhere. I am expected to present a live cow, five goats, tobacco, drinks, food and other things for the marriage but I cannot afford them,” he said.
