Police arrest mortician over stolen corpse of SAN in Enugu

ENUGU—Enugu State police command has arrested the mortician in-charge of the Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu, from where the corpse of Chief Theodore Ezeobi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, was reportedly stolen last Thursday morning.

Some unknown persons were said to have broken into the mortuary and

forcefully removed the corpse of the legal practitioner who passed on four months ago.
He hailed from Osikwu village, Awgbu, in Orumba North local government area of Anambra State.

The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed to Vanguard that the mortician on duty when the corpse was stolen, was already being interrogated with a view to ascertaining how the corpse disappeared from the morgue.

“It is a true story that the corpse of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Anambra State disappeared from a hospital in Enugu and we are investigating the matter now.
“The mortician on duty that morning is in our custody and he is helping us in our investigations,” he said.
However, Vanguard learnt that the corpse may have been taken somewhere in Anambra State for the burial which was scheduled for last Thursday.

The funeral, which was well advertised was, however, aborted as security operatives were said to have stormed the village in search of those in possession of the controversial corpse.
Sources said the first son to the deceased, Theodore Junior Ezeobi, had placed a newspaper advertorial in which he fixed wake keep and the burial of his late father for last Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

But reports from the village said the wake keep did not hold Wednesday night though several canopies were set for the event at the family compound.
It was gathered that while the son was planning the funeral in line with the earlier announcement, the daughter of the deceased legal luminary, Chinelo Ezeobi, placed a counter announcement, a development that gave the villagers and the deceased lawyer’s friends and associates the impression that the family was in dispute.

The burial posters for the late SAN which was also signed by Theodore Junior for the family, was displayed in some locations within the town, including St. Theresa’s Catholic Church where a burial mass was billed to be held in his honour.