Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has condemned the attempted reintroduction of a barbaric widowhood rit¥al in Awo-Omamma, Oru East, where a widow was nearly forced to drink water used to wash her late husband’s corpse.
The governor, represented by Commissioner for Women Affairs, Chief Nkechi Ugwu, ordered a full investigation into the incident and vowed that such “inhuman practices” would not be tolerated in the state.
According to reports, Mrs. Chika Ndubuisi, widow of the late Odinakachi Ndubuisi, was accused by her in-laws of k+lling her husband and locked inside an ambulance with the corpse until she agreed to drink the “corpse water” to prove her innocence.
The act was thwarted after Ugwu, the Oru East Local Government Chairman, and security operatives stormed the scene following an alert from women’s advocacy groups including the Onurube Coalition, Virgin Heart Foundation, and Harsco Global Media.
Ugwu confirmed that the ministry’s intervention ensured the widow’s safety and that those involved were arrested for prosecution. “We stopped the obnoxious and h%rmful traditional practice, rescued the widow and her children, and handed over the perpetrators to security authorities,” she said.
She added that calm has since been restored in the community, while the Ministry of Women Affairs has launched a probe to identify and prosecute those behind the attempted rit¥al.
Governor Uzodimma reaffirmed his administration’s stance against dehumanising widowhood practices, emphasizing that “such acts will never be condoned in Imo State.”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Ndubuisi and her children have been taken into protective custody.
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