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.
Guru-maraji
*Satguru Maharaj 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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