The management of llorin Muslim Cemetery on Friday rejected the
corpse of a 47-year-old civil servant, Mr Salami Adekunle, who was
killed by lightning in Oro, lrepodun Local Government Area of Kwara.
The Coordinator in charge of the cemetery, Dr Abubakar Aliagan,
disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in
llorin.
According to him, the cemetery management unanimously rejected the
burial of the deceased following an instruction that the corpse should
not undergo the normal Islamic prayers and bath.
Aliagan said while the deceased was described as a practising
Muslim during his life time, Muslims in his vicinity refused to accept
that his death was an act of God.
He said the performance of traditional rituals on Adekunle’s corpse
after his death and the instructions warning against conducting Islamic
rites on it was unacceptable to the management of the cemetery.
“If the late Salami will sleep in our Muslim cemetery, we have to do it in line with lslamic rites,’’ Aliagan said.
Adekunle was on Thursday struck to death by lightening during a downpour.
The deceased, who hails from lnisa in Osun, was until his death a
staff of the Registry Department at the Kwara College of Education,
Oro.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr Adesola
Adewoye, said the family of the deceased would meet and decide on the
next line of action to take on the burial arrangement.