The embalment of the remains of a 78-year-old Madam Lucy Osigwe by one of her children, Dr. Chimezie Osigwe, a devotee of the founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, since 2003, continues to generate ripples. The incident has launched the serene town of Ejemekuru, Imo State into public discourse. The allegation against Dr. Osigwe, currently in police detention, is that he used the remains of his mother for ritual and that two other members of the family had also been used.
To get to the root of the matter, Sunday Vanguard visited the Ashram (place of worship) of Guru Maharaj Ji on km 10, Lagos – Ibadan expressway.
One knotty part of the incident is that the two persons, Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe and Dorothy Osigwe, alleged to have been used by Dr. Osigwe for ritual, are alive. Another is the account of the episode by Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe. She took exception to the detention and allegation against her elder brother, Dr. Osigwe, that he used the remains of their mother for ritual.
With teary eyes and emotion-laden voice, she pleaded with the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to ensure immediate release of her brother who she said was being punished for carrying out the instruction of their late mother who died in 2003, but the corpse found in a wardrobe in the son’s house in May, 2013.
While explaining the shady areas in the incident, Satguru Mahraj Ji condemned the action taken by the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Katsina, alleging that “he betrayed the trust reposed in him as the number two security officer of the state”.
He said that contrary to the claim of the state police boss that two of the daughters of the Osigwes were missing, the two women were with him and that the police boss was at liberty to question them if he so wished.
Devotee’s mission
Guru Maharaj Ji, who did not deny Dr. Osigwe, gave a vivid account of how the devotee came to him.
He said, “His search for the truth brought him to the lotus feet of Maharaj Ji. After taking steps to try and test Maharaj Ji in his way, he got answers to all nagging questions bogging his life. Based on his personal conviction on who Maharaj Ji is, he decided to queue for my knowledge. On August, 5, 1989, divine knowledge was revealed to him at my mission at Owerri, Imo State”.
He also confirmed that Dr. Osigwe later brought five other members of his family. Among them were his mother, the late Madam Lucy Osigwe, and her sister, Dorothy. According to him, both of them had mental challenges and he healed them.
He also mentioned one Ikechinachi as one of those brought to him for healing. Maharaji claimed that Ikechinachi, who was studying Mathematics in the US, was brought to him by Dr. Osigwe for healing and Ikechinachi thereafter in 2001 left for home after being healed.
He added that one Chibuzor, who allegedly brought in the police to this matter which he described as “purely private matter of the Osigwes”, was equally brought for divine knowledge which he claimed he got. Maharaj Ji warned that the Imo CP should “beware of his current campaign of calumny against the holy name of Satguru Maharaj Ji that never fails”.
Guru Maharaj Ji wondered why he has been a subject of attack since 1986 in the course of which he said his character had been assassinated.
One of the two persons allegedly declared missing by the Imo CP, Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe, narrated what killed her mother and why Dr. Osigwe embalmed her remains. She said the embalmment of the corpse was a collective agreement of members of the family.
What killed Madam
Lucy Osigwe?
“The exploration of oil by one company in the area led to the cracking of most houses in Ejemekuru. Some part of our house split due to vibration of the equipment used by the oil company. My mother was going to the toilet one day when the broken wall fell and hit her on the head. We treated her for some time and eventually she died. Then my brother took the case up with the oil company to pay compensation for the death of our mother”, she said. The interview continued:
Why did Dr. Osigwe keep the embalmed corpse in his room
Before the death of my mother, she instructed Dr. Osigwe to ensure that the first child who is a professor in the US must see her corpse before burial.
Detractors and mischief makers are trying to capitalize on this incident to deceive the general public that my elder brother, Chief Chimezie Osigwe, used our mother for ritual. Besides, they want to use the opportunity to smear the personality of Satguru Maharaj Ji and his mission and create the impression that he is one of the accomplices to the presumed ritual acts.
When our mother died, Dr. Osigwe, being the third child in the family, informed all the members of the Osigwe family that mama was dead. Owing to the strained relationship between him and the rest of the family members and due to the fact that they had vehemently opposed his decision to be a devotee of Satguru Maharaj Ji, our most senior brothers, who are in the US, came out, point blank, to say they would never have anything to do with the death of our mother.
They said since Dr. Osigwe bluntly refused to heed their advice to denounce his membership of Satguru Maharaj Ji, which they erroneously believed is a cult organization, it is left for him to do whatever he liked with the corpse of our mother.
In the tradition of the Igbo, being a third child, it is not quite proper for him to proceed to announce publicly the death of mama without agreeing with the elder brothers; hence, he decided to embalm the body until a time they would come home to see her body intact, so that nobody would accuse him of having used any part of the body for ritual. Besides, Dr. Osigwe was a school teacher then and he did not have the amount of money that could be needed to give our mother a befitting burial.
Police aware of the embalmment
My brother, Dr. Osigwe, then went to Oguta Divisional Police Station to make his case known to them with the assurance that, if, on the long run, his elder brothers refused to come back, he could use the money he would get from the case he had with Chevron Oil company to bury mama because the case favoured him. He agreed with the police that the corpse of our mother should be given a long pending the time the case will be over.
He equally agreed with the police that since the date of the burial was uncertain, it would be advisable to embalm the body in the house to avoid a situation where the mortuary officials may decide to dispose of the corpse if the body over-stayed. The body was finally embalmed in the house with the knowledge of the police and a medical doctor.
Police inspect embalmed corpse
As Chevron case dragged much more than expected, he tried to borrow money to do the burial ceremony. All those he contacted refused to help because he was a devotee of Maharaj Ji. He became a regular caller at the police station to keep them abreast of the fact that the corpse was yet to be buried. The police, from time to time, visited the house to inspect the body.
By last year, 2012, the Chevron case ended in his favour and he went back to the police station to inform them. On arrival, he was informed that the two police officers handling the matter had been posted to Aba in Abia State. He traced them and broke the news of the case he won. The police officers assured him that whenever he was ready, should inform them because they would surely witness the burial ceremony.
It was in the process of trying to have access to the money that some members of the Ejemekuru community, who are sworn enemies of Chief Osigwe; used one of the family members who happens to be the son of my immediate elder brother, who was always antagonizing Chief Osigwe for being a lover of Maharaj Ji, to forcefully break into the house and invited the police for their so-called expose.
To prove that the corpse was not used for ritual, no part of the body of late Madam Lucy Osigwe, my mother, was removed or dismembered. Police should examine the body and see if any part was removed. The body is intact.
When asked if the detained Dr. Osigwe had any document issued by the police that approved that he should embalm the corpse and keep it at home when there are hospitals in the area, she said there was a document which showed that the police approved of the action.
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