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Ifeanyichukwu died of cancer about three weeks ago in an Enugu-based.
Among eminent Nigerians who came to Nwobodo’s home to witness the burial of his first son were former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senator Chris Ngige and Prof. Uche Azikiwe, wife of late Owelle of Onitsha, Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Most of the dignitaries were already seated before 9am, waiting for the arrival of the body so that the burial mass, scheduled for 11am could begin.
However, by 11am, the corpse, which was deposited at Eastern Medical Centre, Enugu, was not forthcoming. While the waiting was going on, information filtered in that the body of the deceased was missing from the mortuary where it was kept.
The ‘disappearance’ of the corpse was later linked to a disagreement between Nwobodo and Ifeanyichukwu’s siblings, over the location of his grave.
Nwobodo had built a bungalow for Ifeanyichukwu immediately after his death and ordered that his remains should be buried within the compound. The elder statesman acted in line with Igbo tradition that a first son who dies before the father loses his inheritance.
Ifeanyichukwu’s siblings, Uso, Chukwudi and Ifeoma, insisted that their brother must be buried in their father’s compound and not the house hurriedly built for him after his death.
Their father was said to have pencilled down his wife, Patricia Nwobodo (Nee Uguru), to inherit his house.
Ifeanyichukwu and his siblings were offspring of Nwobodo’s former wife, Mrs. Nonyelu Mukosolu, who he divorced a long time ago.
Although the family initially concealed the disagreement prior to the burial on Friday, the lid blew open right in front of the dignitaries and other sympathizers who converged on Nwobodo’s country home for the funeral ceremony.
The dignitaries attempted to mediate in the dispute, but both parties in the disagreement refused to shift ground, holding tenaciously to their different positions.
Even the intervention of the Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, who accepted to bury the deceased in the church compound at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church nearby, yielded no fruit.
Nwobodo’s children told the Bishop to do away with the idea of burying their brother in the churchyard, because his remains must rest in their father’s compound.
When it became clear that none of the parties in the dispute was willing to budge, the funeral was postponed and the dignitaries and other sympathizers dispersed.
After overcoming the shock and embarrassment of the incident, Nwobodo opened up three days later.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, Nwobodo said that his children masterminded the disappearance of their eldest brother’s corpse.
Describing the action as an “abomination”, Nwobodo stated that if they were his children in flesh and blood, they would not have done such a thing.
He made it clear that he has only one wife who is living with him, since he divorced the mother of his errant children even before he became a governor in 1979, and nobody should refer to her as his wife.
He explained that he insisted that Ifeanyichukwu would not be buried in his compound as he did not want to be confronted by his son’s grave every day.
Nwobodo recalled that he told his son on his sick bed that it was not proper for a father to bury hi son, but that a son should bury his father.
The former governor said he did everything to save his son’s life when it was discovered that he had cancer that was almost at the terminal stage.
He said his wife paid N1.8 million to fly his son to the United States of America and he was taken to the Mac Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, one of the best hospitals in the world for cancer treatment.
“I abandoned the National Conference, where I was a delegate and I and my wife travelled to the United States to make sure that Ifeanyi gets the best medication. I did not come back until the National Conference ended. The hospital demanded for a deposit of $250,000. I told them that I did not have that kind of money. At last we agreed on a deposit of $45,000, which I and my wife paid.
“I didn’t expect my son to die so soon. We were planning for him to go back to Houston. The doctor said he had never seen such recovery. All his organs were cancerous but after treatment, he recovered.
“The day he died, I started planning his burial, because of politics; I wanted to bury him before primaries. After primaries, there will be appeals before we go to the convention,” he said.
On how his children came into the picture, he said: “Uso and Chukwudi came to see me and I told then that their brother would be buried on December 5.
“As I speak with you, I have not seen the two of them. I started asking, what kind of children are they?
“We have two (plots of) land. Our ancestral home is Umuogo. This is Jim Nwobodo’s house. I can give it to whom I want. I did not know there was any protest. We were preparing for the burial. I invited my friends. Zik’s wife was here, Alex Ekwueme, Ngige, the Deputy Senate President, they were all here.
By 11am, I asked for the corpse. I learnt it was at Eastern Medical Centre. I asked Odengene, he said Apams had not come. Having said this, this is the first time a set of children seized their bother’s corpse. It is an abomination. It is not only an abomination, it is stupid.
“It doesn’t show they are intelligent because the only thing they could do is to give their brother a decent burial. After that day, I have completed the burial rites. I can never get involved again.
“The church got involved. The Bishop called me. I told him, the Bible says, ‘Honour your father and mother so that your days will be long’. I am a Christian. I don’t want to curse my children. Till today, I don’t know where Ifeanyi’s corpse is.
“I was surprised the press said I had two wives. I have only one wife. I divorced this woman before I became Governor. This is divorce certificate. Please don’t refer to me as having two wives. The other woman is called Mukosolu Nonyelu. She tried to use my name. I asked my lawyer to write her to desist from using my name,” he said.
He also disowned her children, saying that, by their action, they seemed not to have his flesh and blood.
“The children she had seemed not to have my flesh and blood. A child who has your flesh and blood, there are certain things they cannot do.
“My children, who have my flesh and blood, lavish love on me. It is only when a child is not yours that he can seize a dead body.
“It is painful and unheard of. There was a house of bishops here. The Bishop called me. The Bishop told me that, if I don’t want to bury him in my compound, they would bury him in the church, that church I built, it was dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“My children agreed that they would bury their brother in the church. They went back to prepare for the service. Since then till today, we have not seen them. I have not seen my daughter Ifeoma. I married her to Oluchukwu. Today, she is divorced. I told her, like mother, like daughter.
“She quarreled with her husband while Ifeanyichukwu was sick in the hospital. She called the police to remove him from the hospital. My son-in-law called me and said, Daddy look at what my wife is doing. I told him, no, she is not my daughter. My daughter cannot do that. The police said they would handle that. They made sure he did not sleep in the hospital,” Nwobodo said.
He also took a swipe at his late son’s wife, Ada, for trying to conceal her husband’s illness and saying that he was flown to the United States because he had head and chest pain.
None of the Nwobodo children could be reached at the time of this report. A source close to them, however, disclosed that the war in Nwobodo’s home might just have started as the children had the full backing of their Amechi kinsmen in their grouse against their father.
The source said Nwobodo’s children, Uso and Chukwudi, had been angling for a confrontation with their father for a long time now, but Ifeanyichukwu was the peacemaker, until his death.
Ifeanyichukwu’s cool-headedness was said to have endeared him to his father, more than his younger brothers.
In fact, he was said to have obeyed orders from his father, unlike his brothers who felt that Nwobodo transferred his hatred for their mother to them.
Saturday Independent’s source recalled that Ifeanyi was a commissioner under Governor Chimaroke Nnamani and when the governor quarreled with his father, he resigned because he would not tolerate anybody insulting his father.
It was also alleged that when Governor Sullivan Chime wanted Ifeanyichukwu to become the chairman of Enugu South Local Government Area, his father, Nwobodo, stopped him.
Nwobodo reportedly retrieved his home at Nike Avenue, Enugu, from Ifeanyichukwu and handed it over to his incumbent wife, who controls all his assets and companies, including Savannah Bank, which recently came out of liquidation.
His children were said to have become alienated long ago from the family following the deprivation they suffered, but Ifeanyi restrained them from revolting against their father.
The source said: “Now, that Ifeanyi is gone, you can hear the drums of war beating in Nwobodo’s home.”
Source: Daily Independent
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