By Agaju Madugba

For several years, 49 years old Solomon Idahosa maintained an annual ritual. A Bini man from Edo state but resident in Kaduna, Idahosa   would pick up the telephone every New Year Eve and at exactly midnight, he would call his mother in Benin-City to exchange pleasantries and wish her and other   members of the family happy and prosperous New Year. As usual, on December 31, 2014, Idahosa called the mother after which he retired to sleep with his family at their Aunguwan Sunday residence of Kaduna metropolis.

Chief Obasogie & Lola

At about 4 am, he reportedly started having problems breathing and with the help of neighbours, Lola, his wife of 13 years rushed him to the hospital where doctors confirmed Idahosa dead.

A week later, members of the Idahosa family accused the widow of killing her husband and to prove her innocence, Lola had no other options than to submit herself for various forms of ritual performances, more so as it was predicted that she would die three months after her husband’s passage.

Some eight months on and having discarded the mandatory black clothing she wore through out the mourning period, Lola, a journalist and graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, told Vanguard that, “I am still alive!” Lola Seriki Idahosa is Igarra from Akoko-Edo, also in Edo state.

How my husband died

It is now eight months and I have since come to live with the reality that I have to take care of my two children. The elder one, a boy is in JSS 3 and the girl is in primary 3.   On New Year Eve, as he was used to, my husband called his mother and other relations and they exchanged pleasantries. There was   no sign off illness or that that was going to be his last telephone call. At about 4 am, he started having difficulties breathing and he could not talk.

I raised the alarm and called neighbours and we rushed him to the hospital and when the doctor checked, he was already gone. While we were on the way to the hospital, I called the immediate younger sister who lives abroad and told her that the brother was ill and that we were taking him to the hospital. When I called her again after the confirmation of death, she did not pick the call and the person who answered said that she was already crying.

I returned to the house and called the elder brother in Benin and he advised me not to inform their mother yet but they eventually broke the news to her about two weeks later after which they fixed a date for burial. We went home to Benin towards the end of January and all eyes were on me and some of them told me pointblank that I killed my husband.

This is more so as according to them, their son was in Benin between September and November and that he was healthy only to return to Kaduna to die suddenly. He was in Benin where he participated in the sharing of their late father’s property. The family had a meeting with my people during which I narrated what happened and how my husband died.

They asked me if I ever had any affairs with another man during the period we were married and I said there was nothing like that and that such thing was not permitted in our culture.

Journey through Hell

They said whether I was saying the truth or not, that they were still going to carry out certain ceremonies in line with their culture and that their late son married me formally and that they paid the bride price. They also said that before we got married that there was a ritual that they performed to know if I would be a faithful wife. I knew about that because my husband actually told me. They said that after the ceremonies, if they found out that I slept with another man other than my husband, that I was going to die within a period of three months.

I told them to go ahead and that my hands were clean. They first of all performed some rites on my son. They killed a goat and used the blood to make some sacrifices and also rubbed it on him. They told me that I was not going to partake in the burial and they kept me in a room. But at about 3 am when they took the corpse to the graveside, they called me out and asked me to pull off my clothes and that I should tie the wrapper around my chest and kneel before the grave. They opened the coffin and asked me to face the corpse.

They put kolanut in his nostril and I repeated after them that if I had any affairs while we were married that this and that would happen to me. They then asked me to remove the kolanut from his nostril and eat it. They insisted that I must chew and swallow the entire kolanut. They then put part of the water they had used in bathing the corpse in a cup and asked me to drink it.

This was followed by another round of rituals and incantations. They told the corpse that I was going to join him within three months if I had any hand in the death. They did not even allow me to do the dust to dust ceremony as we normally do in my place. They put some food in in the grave so that he will continue to eat and they did so many other sacrifices. They then covered him with sand without closing the casket.

They said that they still follow their culture and that their forefathers even though dead are still alive and watching over them. My husband was not the church going type while he was alive and what shocked me more during the burial was that I did not know that he was a member of a cult group and they wore red dress and also performed their own rituals in their shrine. He was buried on the land he inherited from his father at Ikpoba Hill.

After the burial they also forced me to go through another round of torture. They put me in a room for seven days. There was fire in the room and I was made to clutch a broom on which a number of objects were attached on my right hand and which I held across the fire for the period. They said this ceremony was designed to separate me permanently from my late husband.

They collected N20,000 from me to perform this particular ritual. The room was very hot because of the fire and my hand was virtually burnt because I placed it over the fire. Through out the seven days, I ate whatever food they gave me with the left hand and the plate remained unwashed. After a meal, they would put the next meal in the same plate. I went through hell. And I must not sleep off through out the night. The family members were also in the room at night, singing and beating drums throughout, to keep me awake.

Walking naked at midnight

Within the seven days, they directed me to walk to a T-junction, at about 3 am after rubbing charcoal all over my body. They gave me water to take a bath there. They asked me to burn the clothes I was wearing and walk back to the house stark naked. I did that. Nobody was supposed to see me because according to them if anyone saw me, everything they had done would be in vain.

On walking back naked to the house, they had earlier instructed me to call out my husband’s name and tell him that the marriage was over and that he should not disturb me. They explained the burning of my clothes, saying that if I did not do it, somebody might collect them and that I may run mad if they were used for any purpose by anybody.

Church deliverance

I am Christian but I did all those things because of my children and they said that if I did not comply, that my children were going to have some problems. When I returned to Kaduna, I went to see my Pastor, for deliverance, along with my children. I believe the prayers must have taken care of all those things they did to me. The whole thing was so odd because we do not have such tradition in my place.

It’s a strange, primitive culture, says Bini Chief

Chief Eduwu Ekhator Obasogie, the Obasogie of Benin Kingdom is Chairman of Edo state Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee. He told Vanguard that, “I refuse to agree that this is a true life story, it is an allegation. In the history of burial ceremonies, I have never witnessed such a thing although I have actually heard that some people engage in certain burial rites but not as brutal as asking somebody to drink water used in washing a corpse. I do not believe that somebody created by God can ask a fellow human being too do such a thing.

Who gave her the water to drink and did they force her or beat her to drink it? What I know is that some people would beat the forehead of a deceased person and ask the woman to swear that she did not have a hand in the death, that is in a situation where they suspect her. But those are primitive ideas and they belong to the Dark Age.

Our committee used to sit at the Oba’s palace for many years and during that period we called on people who claim to have had such experiences to come to the palace so that we could document their testimonies but nobody has came forward. If this lady lives in Benin, she should come to us and we will invite the family concerned and ask them how they got such a culture and we will also call the traditional leader from that area to tell us the meaning of this culture. But if they come, they are not likely to admit that such ceremonies took place.