Man appears as his mistaken corpse is prepared for burial
There was palpable confusion at Yar Gabas, Old Market area of Sokoto North Local Government Area in Sokoto State when a 62-year-old Alhaji Abdullahi Nuhu, a bricklayer returned home hale and hearty as relatives and sympathisers were preparing his supposed corpse for burial.
Alhaji Nuhu had gone for the weekly Friday prayer about 1:00pm on April 11, 2014. He reportedly had his prayer at Sheikh Usman Mosque, popularly called Masallacin Shehu and proceeded to Gidan Igwai area where he usually relaxes with his fellow bricklayers. But to his surprise, when he got home about 6:00pm that same day, he saw a large crowd in his compound who said they were preparing to bury him.
Narrating his story to Sunday Trust he said, “It is part of my daily schedule to go to Gidan Igwai even if I don’t have any work to do in the area. It is where I sit down with my friends and discuss issues of life.
“I left Gidan Igwai for my residence around 6:00pm same day, only to come home and meet a crowd. As soon as I came down from the motorcycle that conveyed me to my house, the crowd cast a strange look at me and a wild shout erupted from among the youth who gathered for the funeral rites.
“Upon enquiry, people told me that my family members had claimed a corpse they mistook as my own at the Specialist Hospital, Sokoto. They were preparing it for burial when I came home.
“I learnt that my wife, children and other relatives had cried themselves hoarse and had calmed down before I arrived.
“Within minutes of my arrival, the whole scenario changed from that of mourning to celebration. And my family went to the police and Sokoto North Local Government Council officials who took the corpse back to the specialist hospital morgue.”
The drama started when a friend to Nuhu’s eldest son came to the family with a picture of a dead man who resembled their father in all respects. He told them that their father had died when he was knocked down by a motorcyclist, adding that his corpse was deposited at the specialist hospital morgue.
Sunday Trust learnt that after consultations, about seven of Alhaji Nuhu’s family members went to the hospital and collected the corpse they believed was their father’s.
It was further gathered that his family members did not bother to call him because he doesn’t go out with a phone.
“I don’t move around with a phone. I have been buying phones and kept losing them. All the same, I bought one recently which I kept at home for fear of losing it,” he explained
He said he came when the corpse was about to be dressed in a white cloth for burial.
Commenting, his eldest son, Abubakar Abdullahi recalled that seven of them went to the hospital, and when the remains of a man was brought out from the morgue, they were convinced it was their father as he looked exactly like him. They therefore took the corpse home for burial.
“We gave it the final washing, and when we were performing ablution for the funeral prayers, to our surprise, we just saw our father coming back home on a commercial motorcycle,” Abdullahi said.
Also speaking on the incident, Alhaji Nuhu’s wife told Sunday Trust that it was usual for her husband to go to Gidan Igwai and stay till about 7:00pm. She lamented that though she was told that her husband was killed in an accident, she was not allowed to see her corpse so she could identify him properly.
“They did not allow me to see the corpse. I know the cloth he wore to mosque. Perhaps, if I had seen that corpse, that may have saved the situation,” she said, and expressed happiness that the drama did not become a reality.
One of his daughters, Zarau added: “I went out that day, and when I came back people were staring at me. I saw a corpse being prepared for burial and my siblings were crying. Then all of a sudden there was uproar outside and I saw my father. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I had to give out alms to children.”
The family expressed appreciation to Allah for everything and prayed for their bread- winner’s long life and success.
Many who spoke on the incident described it as strange.