An Ikeja high court has ordered the Nigerian Navy not to release the corpse of retired rear admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, in order to prevent the corpse from being tampered with.
Kanu, a former military administrator of Lagos, died on January 13, 2021, aged 77.
Justice Christopher Balogun on October 7, gave an order that the navy should not release Kanu’s corpse until otherwise directed by the court.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the order was given while hearing a suit filed by Gladys Kanu, one of the wives of the deceased, against Kanu’s children, the Nigerian Navy and her co-wife.
The plaintiff is seeking an order of the court to direct the respondents, their agents or privies, not to threaten her and to allow her properly prepare for the burial slated for October 15.
The respondents to the suit are Kelly Kanu, the Nigerian Navy, Simone Abiona (nee Kanu), Andrey Joe-Ezigbo (nee Kanu), Paul Ndidiamaka Kanu and Karen Johnson (nee Kanu).
Others are Jeffery Kanu, Laura Kanu, Stephen Kanu and Josephine Ndubuisi-Kanu (wife).
“It is for the protection of the body itself so that no one goes to tamper with that body which is to be buried this Saturday,” the judge said.
“There is not going to be any change of date of that burial, but we are protecting the body.
“That is the only order I gave so that there will be no intermeddlers and interlopers and going to the Nigerian Navy and saying they were told to come and collect the body, and we do not see the body of our dear ex-governor any longer.
“It is a protective order. I also said that if this controversy lingers and there is no proper cohesion among the lawyers to the parties, it will cause some confusion in Abia state on the date of the burial.
“I gave a direction and all counsel present said that it was a good advice. I am concerned that the body of our ex-governor is given a befitting burial, so no one should tamper with the body.”
According to NAN, the family and their lawyers were in court over a dispute concerning the deceased’s burial arrangements.
