The authorities of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State said they are going commence the mass burial of 49 unclaimed corpses deposited at the General Hospital, Sabo by officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
This was according to a letter addressed to the state Ministry of Local Government Affairs.
The letter, dated April 11, 2023 and signed by the chairman of the council, Salasi Musa, was obtained by newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday.
According to the letter, 25 of the unclaimed bodies were tagged with two or one names while the remaining 24 have no identification tags at all.
The letter partly read, “This is to notify the public that Chikun Local Government Council, has got the approval of the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government Affairs to carry out the burial of 49 unknown and unclaimed corpses deposited at different times at the General Hospital Sabon Tasha, Chikun Local Government Area by men of the Nigeria Police from Toll Gate Division and Kasuwa Magani Police Stations.
“The Kaduna State Ministry of Health and Kaduna State Ministry of Local Government Affairs had in their letters dated 30th August 2022 and 4th October 2022, respectively, directed that a committee be set up to investigate and verify the circumstances surrounding the deposited corpses.
“Following the directive, a nine-man committee was constituted to that effect on the 20th of October, 2022 under the watch of security agencies. The committee carried out a careful investigation and its findings revealed that:
“Forty-Nine unclaimed corpses were deposited at the mortuary of Sabon Tasha General Hospital against the 42 earlier communicated. The corpses need urgent befitting interment in public interest.”
It noted that the 25 unclaimed bodies with an identification tag included that of “Donates Ebomuche, Emmanuel Charles, Dangote, Hadiza Audu, Insp. Rutu Musa, Joel Simon, Idrisa Yakubu, Baba Yellow, and Maria Ejeh, Abubakar Ibrahim, Chukwuka Aguezeh, among others.”
It added that a window of five days has been given for claimers to come forward if any before the bodies were committed to mother earth at a place provided by His Royal Highness Esu Chikun.
Meanwhile, the council has set up a seven-man technical committee for the final burial expected to hold within the period under reference.
