Family kicks against alleged plan to bury Keshi in Benin
Stephen Keshi
The Keshi family of Ogbe Onyeogu Quarters Ukpologwu Illah, Oshimili Local Council of Delta State has written to their in-laws, the Aburime Family of Ewu, Edo State, demanding that Super Eagles former Coach, Stephen Keshi, who passed on on June 7 be buried in his paternal family home.
There have been reports of plans to bury the late Keshi in Benin, where he lived before travelling to Europe for his professional football career. Keshi’s late wife was buried in Benin in December last year.
In the letter addressed to Mr. Patrick Aburime, the Keshi family said, “We are the enlarged family of Mr. Steven Okechukwu Keshi, our son who suddenly passed away on the 7th of June 2016 after a brief illness. While we grieve over his death we also wish to commiserate with you on the demise of your beloved in-law.
“Sequel to the series of meetings between your family and the Keshi family of Ogbe Onyeogu Quarters Ukpologwu Illah with particular reference to the meeting on Friday 17th June 2016, at which the Keshi Family was represented by Mr. Sylvester Keshi and Mr. Ifeoseme Aranwa, we wish to convey our expectations concerning our son’s funeral and final rites of passage to you.
“As you are well aware, Mr. Steven Okechukwu Keshi, the Onwa Na Etili Ora of Illah, was our son, brother, husband & father. His parents lived and died in Illah and both were buried in Illah. Steven in his lifetime had very close ties with his Illah community as he often sponsored youth football tournaments, particularly the Illah Youth Cup, every December and this endeared him to members of his community.
“In 2013 when he led the Super Eagles of Nigeria to the AFCON Nations Cup final and emerged victorious, the then Ogbelani of Illah, Obi Nwabuenu Mebu conferred him with the chieftaincy title of Onwa Na Etili Ora of Illah. He was physically present to receive and be conferred with this title by the Ogbelani of Illah.
As it is customary in Illah, the death of a Palace Chief is heralded by several traditional ceremonies and this necessitated our dispatch of family representatives to Benin to confer with our son’s children, who are currently in Nigeria and his extended family particularly the Aburime family, our in-laws.”
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11 Comments
NA NOW THE FAMILY GO COME OUT SAY ,KESHI NA THEIR SON FORGETING SAY THE GUY NOR GET HOUSE FOR HIM VILLAGE. PLS LET HIS KIDS DECIDE WHERE THEY WANT THEIR PARENTS TO BE BECOS, THEY ARE THE TRUE PEOPLE THAT LOVE THEIR FATHER N MOTHER.
please be told that cualture is people’s ways of life. the bini’s and delta’s are not the same thing when it regards to this.
the children may not know much of their culture but need to be told of the needful things to do in honor of their father.
their mother been bini does not in any way give’s their dad an title of bini man.
If they bury him in the wrong spot, believe me they will rebury him again. You don’t trifle with culture when it comes to burial rights. Give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceaser and to God what belongs to God. This has nothing to do with politics or ethnicity or whatever. Culture is culture. Those who claim to live above culture when they are alive always pay the price somehow.
Good gods almighties, Keshi is a Nigerian and not Caesar. You foolish uncle toms allow the immediate family to privately decide where to rest the remains of this illustrious son of Nigeria. If you want to culturise a funeral, then remember your history as most Deltans are of Edo extraction. Lift you greedy snout off the grief of the Keshis.
Are you guys to lacking in high achievers that your have to commandeer a dead body from somewhere else to buried in your land? Invoking your history will do nothing to shape your miserable present or the future. Nigeria is a patriarchal society. It will be a dishonor of the highest order for Keshi to be buried anywhere else other than his fathers ancestral land. Deal with. If you don’t like that then write it in your own will that when you kick the bucket they should bury your miserable body in your wife’s place.
Where’s the boundary of this famed ancestral land? Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. The whole earth is the ancestral land of us all. Let the dead rest in peace in the bosom of mother earth when life ends. Keshi has served us all well. It is a crying shame that you see merit in tossing his remains across the land because you want him buried in a ‘particular spot’ next to you?
They just confirmed that tradition and culture stand for something in this country where everything else is in a flux. He will be buried in Illah. That is how it should be. His spirit can now have eternal rest and his children can now sleep at night knowing that they have given their father his due honor.
I rest my case. Your latest response was more civil and devoid of name calling and for that I say, Peace be with you.
I hate all these family blablabla
What do your know about burial rights? Must you weigh in on every issue even the ones that are way above your pay grade?
Please let this man rest where his immediate family so wished. It is not in anyone’s interest, least of the enlarged grieving community where his immediate family chose to lay down his remains.
Why should the in-laws plan to bury Keshi in Benin? Is it the business of in-laws to decide where to bury their son-in-law?
We will review and take appropriate action.