Christian buried at a Muslim graveyard exhumed over mistaken identity in Nigeria

Imagine going to the morgue to pick up the remains of your deceased relative only to be met with the news that, the body is nowhere to be found and another family may have claimed the body for burial.

A mix-up at the morgue has forced a family to exhume a body one week after it was buried in Nigeria.

In a pure case of mistaken identity, a Christian was buried in a Muslim graveyard in the northern state of Kano. It is said that the two bodies had a striking resemblance.

Aminu Adam, the chief Imam of Gandun Albasa community in central Kano, is taking full responsibility for the mix-up and the confusion that has ensued over the bodies, according to BBC.

“We were told that Abdullahi Obinwa was number 22 at the mortuary and when I went to identify the corpse, Basil Ejensi looked like Obinwa, who had lived with us for 40 years.

“They were both chubby and not too tall, but there was no beard,” Mr Adam said.

He added: “When I asked the mortuary attendant, he said they sometimes remove beards from bodies, so I assumed it was Obinwa.”

The Ejensi family while making the necessary arrangements to perform the final funeral rites for their relative discovered the error that had happened at the morgue.

They then traced the remains of Ejensi to the Muslim cemetery. They then called on the courts for an order to exhume the body.

The body has since been returned to the Ejensi family, but the search for the corpse of Mr Obinwa is still ongoing.

The family of Obinwa is now trusting the authorities at the Aminu Kano Hospital, where the confusion ensued to help them find their loved one.

The authorities at the hospital told the BBC the matter is still under investigations.