Weird: Nigerian woman who died years ago, dies again in Benin Republic

Hi folks,

Just found this story and decided to share with us all. It was first published on 10/02/11. For more, you can read from pointblanknews.com. What do you think?

Her story reads like a thriller: the type only a great novelist could spin. However, the somewhat grace-to-grass context and the many twists and turns of her life’s tale could make some of the classic tragedies spun by dramatist extraordinaire Sophocles of ancient Greece appear less calamitous.

First she died in Nigeria, was properly buried and forgotten, then suddenly she appeared in Benin Republic with a new life. Now she’s dead again. And then the real dead end.

To be candid, ruminating on this woman’s chequered sojourn on earth invoked Figure it out for yourself, the title of one of scores of crime thrillers by James Hardley Chase; for, at the end of series of fragmetary sequences; you are still left wondering, if you got this one right.

Initially, telephone numbers rose flying around, purportedly belonging to one of her believed children. But then, on one occasion during which the said son was reportedly traced on phone, he told them that his mother died a long time ago and that he was not going to come to claim the corpse of another woman.

He had moved on with his life in the northern part of Nigeria. Today, nobody owns up to still having the contact address of phone number of this mystery son. The same story is told of the documents removed from the late woman’s home. The official of the Nigerian community allegedly handed everything to the Beninoise authority. Confusion and more confusion.

Such was the variegated nature of this subject’s life that at some point, she served in the officer cadre of one of the nation’s armed forces only to die unloved and abadoned, and her corpse unwanted. This was a woman that actually lived overseas at some point; she apparently enjoyed the famed, good life as a spinster; and, at the domestic level was married and had children.

Sadly, however, everything eventually went so kaputt that she died a lonely and forsaken woman. So unwanted was she, that her children and practically every other family member did not only shun her in the twilight of her life but denied her outright, when informed she had passed on and that her body was waiting to be claimed in a morgue in a neighbouring foreign country.

The deceased gave up the ghost a few minutes after midnight on May 2, 2011; and, her remains were immediately deposited at Morgue Le Pardon, the only funerarium in Djeregbe. Djeregbe stands roughly 10 minutes’ drive from Porto Novo, capital of Benin Republic; and, coming from Seme-Krake, near Nigeria’s extreme south-western frontier; Djeregbe is barely five minutes’ drive after turning right at Porto Novo roundabout.

However, it must be pointed out that the woman’s offspring have not abandoned the body due to financial implication. The deceased was a very wealthy person, and the sale of a fraction of her estate will easily raise the money to pay off any bill accruing from her death and funeral.

It would therefore seem that the offspring’s rejection of any relationship with the dead woman arises from fear of exposure of kinship to one who was sick or worse still, for other reasons which; as some are wont to conjectutre, could even be considered sinister. If the contents of a video, we shall soon refer to, are anything to go by; the woman was allegedly initiated into a secret society sometime in 2005 by some juju worshippers in Akesan Town, Lagos.

Truly, there are many twists and turns to this convoluted tale. Could a woman that died years ago in Nigeria die again in Benin Republic? Could someone or some people have done her in, in order to inherit her wealth? It is believed that apart from the house she owned near Porto Novo, the woman also had some landed properties in Lagos; receipts and building plans of such estates were found among her belongings, according to a reliable source. Interestingly, too; a receipt was found confirming she had secured a sepulchre for her burial in London, the same respondent added.