Chaos at Burial of Chief Jim Nwobodo’s Son as Corpse Dissappears

The corpse of Dr. Ifeanyi Nwobodo, first son of former governor of old Anambra State Senator Jim Nwobodo was yesterday reported missing.

Ifeanyi who died on November 16 was billed for burial yesterday but sympathisers and well wishers who thronged the Amechi Awkunanaw hometown of the Nwobodos were disappointed when the news filtered in that the corpse was missing.

Trouble was said to have started when the former governor and father of the deceased Jim Nwobodo refused that the corpse be buried in his compound. He was said to have quickly built a small bungalow where the corpse should be buried but the deceased’s siblings and other kinsmen insisted that the corpse in line with tradition should be buried in Jim’s compound.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who was among the dignitaries in attendance personally drove Jim for a peace talk with Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma of St. Mathews Anglican Church which lasted several hours.

At the meeting, Jim, was said to have refused to shift ground prompting Archbishop Chukwuma to go for the option of burying the deceased in the church.

But as at press time, the siblings of the deceased who are believed to be in custody of the corpse appear hell bent on burying the corpse in his father’s compound and were report­ed to be considering shifting the burial to a later date.

Senator Nwobodo has been having a running battle with the children of his first wife since he married a second wife, having divorced the first and mother of late Ifeanyi and his siblings.

Among personalities who were at Amechi for the failed burial yesterday were former governor of Anam­bra State, Peter Obi, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Senator Gil Nnaji, former Minister of Information Nnia Nwodo, Hon. Ofor Chukwuegbo, National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh and Chief Chekwas Okorie of the UPP.

Late Ifeanyi Nwobodo, a former commissioner in Enugu died at a hospital in the state from complications which arose after he returned from a cancer treatment abroad. He was married with four children.