The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (INTERSOCIETY) has raised alarm over the alleged smuggling of dead bodies (potentially from COVID-19 fatalities) from northern Nigeria to communities in eastern Nigeria.
In a statement made available to Daily Sun on Thursday, the group’s Board Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Obianuju Igboeli, claimed that their findings showed that the corpses were concealed in body bags and conveyed using long passenger vehicles.
The group, expressing fears that the deceased persons might have died from COVID-19, say that the corpses are mostly conveyed from Kano State down to the East by the relatives of the dead who pay as high as N100,000 for the service.
“From several independent sources, it is reliably confirmed that corpses of Igbo citizens resident in the North, particularly in Kano State, are being smuggled into old Eastern Nigeria in body bags.
“The body bag haulage of the corpses is so syndicated that in most cases the travellers, except the relatives of the corpses, are not aware that the long passenger vehicles with which they are travelling are carrying body bagged corpses.
“Properly sealed with anti-stench chemicals sprayed, their haulage arrangements are struck and sealed at loading points between the drivers of the long passenger vehicles (undertakers) and the dead victims’ relatives.
“To avoid open suspicion, not more than two to three corpses mixed with ware-billed goods are carried and conveyed per long passenger vehicle,” the statement partly read.
The group called on the state governments in the South-East and South-South regions to investigate their observation with a view to stopping what they see as a menace and bringing the perpetrators of the alleged act to book.
