THE CORPSE WATER RITUAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA
In September, we talked about a religious/traditional practice that infringes on the rights of children- THE ALMAJIRI SYSTEM. Do you think the Almajiri system is bad for us? Well, wait until you meet the reeeeaaal rock star- THE CORPSE WATER RITUAL! In this 21st century, some communities still force widows of dead men to drink water from washed corpses of the deceased in order to prove their innocence. In other words, if the family of the deceased has reason to believe that the widow had a hand in his death (and they always have a reason to believe so), they initiate the ritual. What is that?
About 4 months ago, a 34 year old widow, Chioma Asomugha from Anambra state, raised the alarm that her in-laws were trying to force her to drink water used in bathing her dead husband’s corpse. You can read the story here. Thankfully, she resisted them. So, in case you think this barbaric practice doesn’t happen anymore, this is 2021 and human beings are still practicing it.
Where is this practice carried out? Facts show that it is practiced in the South Eastern region of Nigeria, Edo and Delta States. See https://www.refworld.org/docid/50b4aa8c2.html. However, in July this year, following Chioma Asomugha’s outcry, some Igbo elders issued a disclaimer, stating that forcing widows to drink water used to wash their dead husbands’ corpses is not an Igbo culture. Igwe Christopher Nnamani described such practice as “unacceptable in any civilized clime”. He likened the practice to killing of twins in the olden days. Read the full story here.
Let’s talk about the harmful content of that water. I am not a medical doctor or scientist. But I am quite sure water used in washing a dead body is not eva water or swan water. I can’t begin to imagine what harm it can cause the victim/consumer. Some people can be mischievous enough to actually add harmful substances to the water. So, if the widow eventually dies, the gods have meted out justice! Wow! THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY! What about the psychological trauma that woman will have to go through after taking that toxic liquid? Will she ever recover from it? Wo! Some people are sha mad in this country, honestly!
What about the law? First, everyone has a right to life! This is the most important right of every human being and no one can intentionally deprive a person of this right unless one commits a capital offence and has been tried and found guilty by a competent court. Also, everyone has the right to dignity of his/her human person! This means that every Nigerian has the right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman/degrading treatment. What happens to fair hearing? If you think she killed her husband, why not follow due process, present your evidence in court and let her defend herself? But no, ‘umu nna’ is showing muscle in the village. ‘Umu nna’ is not a competent court, dear people of God. Remember that we have discussed the rights to life, fair hearing and dignity of human person in details earlier this year. You can find all of that in our previous blog posts. Just scroll and search.
Let us not forget that the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act has been in force since 2015. The legislation prohibits “harmful widowhood practices” and “harmful traditional practices”. States that are yet to adopt this law should do so, and people need to start taking advantage of this law and other laws that protect human rights. It is time for these laws to stop existing only on paper. Hopefully, corruption, bias and fear of violence from family members will not stop people from taking advantage of the law. The corpse water ritual is obviously repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. The system is vicious and should be abolished where it still exists. Now that Nigeria is 61, let us grow too.
Happy Independece friends!
There are things we will never outgrow even if we clock 160 years old.
ReplyDeleteWe are still 10 million years behind in this country! So sad!
ReplyDeleteJust imagining it is appalling. The country needs help.
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