*No comment, says Administrator

Family, friends, and others are asking about what happened to the body of Joel Agbor Omirenya that was kept in the morgue of Sacred Heart, a Catholic Hospital in Lantoro, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Omirenya was admitted into the emergency ward of Sacred Heart Hospital on February 13, 2023, but after one week on admission, he passed on unfortunately by February 20, 2023, late in the evening. The morticians had reportedly closed for the day when this occurred hence, his body was received by the mortician the following day being February 21, 2023, in good condition, according to his family.

According to the family, the required payment was done and the receipts were properly issued by the management of the hospital to cover for a period of five days. And according to the hospital management as conveyed to the family by the mortuary attendant, for any extra day the body stays after the five days period, a daily amount of N1,000 was charged by the morgue and this would be paid any day the body will be picked by the family.

The son of the deceased, James Omirenya, said the family paid the required check-up visit to the mortuary to ascertain the condition of the body twice and found it there in a good state.

The mortician was informed on the second visit by the family when the body will be removed and all outstanding bills cleared. There was no sign of decomposition and no complaints by the mortician whatsoever about anything happening to the body.

The family further made a phone call on Friday, March 31, 2023, and repeated the call on Saturday, April 1, 2023, to remind the mortician about the plan to remove the remains on Monday, April 3, 2023, after the service of songs on April 2, 2023, as advanced family members were already sent to Ohuhu- Owo in Benue State to make the necessary arrangements for the burial of late Omirenya.

He promised to be available to attend to them on Sunday, April 2, 2023, by 3.p.m for all clearance and preparation for the removal of the body the following day being Monday.

The family was said to have arrived at the hospital by 3. p.m on Sunday and paid all outstanding bills with the hospital management, with receipt duly issued and clearance to be presented to the mortician at the morgue.

But on arrival at the morgue to the dismay and bewilderment of all, the body was no where to be found.

His tag was not found. Neither was there any document showing that his body was swapped or mistakenly issued to another family that might have removed their own corpse deposited there. A thorough search was jointly done by the mortician and the family within the morgue for the body but to no avail.

It was at this point the family decided to report the incident to the Nigeria Police for an investigation to the mystery behind the disappearance of the body. With the involvement of the police, the mortician was arrested for questioning at Lantoro Police Station but the arrest has not yielded any result.

His brother, Sunday Omirenya said: “We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to assist the us to prevail on the management of Sacred Heart Hospital, Lantoro, to provide the body of our brother that was kept in their morgue for a befitting burial and last respect by his family.

When The Guardian reached out to the Administrator, of Sacred Heart Hospital, Abeokuta, Rev. Father Peter, he simply said: “There is no comment right now, we will reach out to you when there is a comment. We have your contact already.