Abuja, NIGERIA — In the quiet corridors of Igboland’s mortuaries, where bodies lie unattended for months or years, a profound spiritual crisis is unfolding. Traditional spiritual leader Ogilisi Igbo has issued an urgent plea to the people of southeastern Nigeria: bury your dead.
According to Ogilisi, the rising insecurity, cultism, violence, and social unrest plaguing the region are not merely political or economic issues but spiritual consequences of a deep cultural deviation. He argues that when bodies are kept for long periods in mortuaries, the souls of the dead remain restless, and this restlessness spills into society, manifesting as chaos.
“The dead need to be buried to rest,” Ogilisi said during a telephone interview with The Crest Intl, emphasizing a message he says he has preached for more than two decades. “When you keep corpses for too long, you are keeping spirits in bondage, and they begin to cause confusion.”
His call comes amid increasing concerns about the cultural trend of long-term corpse preservation in southeastern Nigeria, where families often keep bodies in mortuaries for extended periods while seeking funds for elaborate burials. For Ogilisi, this practice is not only unnecessary but spiritually dangerous, urging communities to return to timely, dignified burials to restore peace in Igboland.
