Late Aprezi: Why Brisibe Family Should Call Their Daughter To Order – Ozobo

By Monday Peters, Abuja

Niger Delta rights activist, Comrade Ozobo Austin, has called on the Brisibe family of Ojobo community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State to prevail on their daughter, Mrs. Paulina Aprezi (née Brisibe), over the alleged seizure of the corpse of her late husband, Major General Aprezi Kakadu and alleged burial plans in Lagos.

In a statement on Monday, Ozobo said it is an abomination in Ojobo and Ayakoromo traditions, and indeed the entire Ijaw nation, for a wife to singlehandedly seize her husband’s corpse and attempt to bury him outside his ancestral home.

He noted that such an incident has never happened in the history of Ojobo and Ayakoromo communities, stressing that it would be sacrilegious and a dent on Ijaw custom and tradition.

It was gathered that the late Major General Aprezi Kakadu, who hailed from the Ayakoromo community, died after a brief illness in Lagos.

Ozobo said it would be a slap on the face of Ayakoromo people to allow such a great son to be buried outside his hometown.

“We are also urging Mrs. Paulina Aprezi’s maternal family in the Ekeremor Community in Bayelsa State to call their daughter to order, since they will not tolerate such a thing being done to their own sons by a wife married from outside,” he said.

He added: “As much as we mourn with her and her children, we beseech her to release the corpse of her late husband to be buried in the Ayakoromo community. His Younger brother ADC Aprezi and other great family members were buried in Ayakoromo. In no account Kakadu’s body should be laid to rest outside Ayakoromo town”

Ozobo stressed that Major General Aprezi was a man of history and honour who served the Nigerian Army meritoriously and retired as a Major General, and his body be allowed to rest in his community after such a great service to the nation and humanity.

“Maj. Gen. Aprezi Kakadu came from a place, he wasn’t a vagabond. He served in the Nigerian Army and retired as a Major General. Such a person’s burial site cannot be determined by his wife alone, and his body cannot be buried in Lagos,” Ozobo stated.

“He was not a poor man and his family is not poor either. The wife should review her unpopular decision and allow her husband’s corpse to be buried in his hometown in the interest of peace, unity and respect for Ijaw tradition,” he added.