By Lukman Olabiyi
The long legal battle between Mrs. Franca Damachi, her two daughters, Lami and Atona and other members of the family came to an end as their father, Professor Ukandi Godwin Damachi, who died in 2021, in Switzerland, has been buried.
Damachi, died on November 29, 2021, in Gene-va, Switzerland, at 79, but his remains were kept in the morgue of the Military Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, for almost two years before he could be buried. This was after his wife and daughters secured a court order for the release of his remains for burial.
To secure the order for the burial, Franca and her two daugh-ters, through their lawyer, Elvis E. Asia, had approached a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court, in suit number MISC/MCY/1012/22.
Listed as respondents in the suit were the Chief Medical Direc-tor, 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Yaba; Prof. Nicholas Damachi; Neda Massa Damachi; Kalibe Damachi; Ateh Damachi Jewel; Udim Dada Damachi and Ushang Gbesse Damachi.
The applicants in their amended originating applica-tion, dated February 10, 2023, was brought pursuant to Sections 11, 27 and 33 of the Magistrates Court Law 2009; Section 38 of the Birth, Death and Burials Law of Lagos State and under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.
Basically, the applicants prayed the court for the release of the body of the late Professor Damachi from the Mil-itary Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, forthwith, to the appli-cants, for burial in his hometown, Obudu, Cross River.
The applicants also said their requests were brought on the grounds that they are the wife and children of the said deceased; that the body of the deceased had been lying in the first respondent’s hospital for many months since December 16, 2021; and the cost of maintaining the body of the said deceased in the respondent’s hospital had become astronomical.
They also stated that the ap-plication was also brought on the grounds that the body of the deceased was becoming autolysis, which required frequent main-tenance; and that the burial programme of the deceased had been fixed.
The applicants supported their motion with an affida-vit deposed to by Mrs. Franca Damachi, wherein she stated, inter alia, that she was the wife of the deceased and the second and third applicants were the children of the deceased.
The deponent stated further that the deceased died on No-vember 29, 2021, in Switzerland, and was deposited at the Military Reference Hospital, Yaba on ar-rival in Nigeria, with the receipt in the name of Professor Nich-olas Damachi, adding that all members of the deceased family had agreed to the burial date, but that the body of the deceased was not released because all efforts to reach Prof. Nicholas Damachi, who was in custody of the receipt proved futile.
Opposing the applicants’ request, the second to seventh respondents, through their law-yer, Akinlolu Timothy Kehin-de (SAN), filed a 38-paragraph counter-affidavit deposed to by Prof. Nicholas Damach, the elder brother of the deceased.
In the counter-affidavit, Prof. Nicholas averred that the mar-riage between the deceased and the first applicant was obtained by suppression and mis-represen-tation of facts as the marriage be-tween the deceased and one Neda Massah Damachi, was still sub-sisting, adding that the second and third applicants are not the only children of the deceased, but that the death certificate clearly stated that Neda Damechi was the wife of the deceased.
He also stated that he is the Head of the Damachi family of Obudu, Cross-River; that Neda Damachi sent the death certif-icate and body of the deceased to him; and that he had been responsible for the bills at the morgue. He added that the burial of the deceased could not go on because the first applicant failed to recognise the other children of the deceased and the family of the deceased, which is contrary to the custom and traditions of the Obudu people of Cross-River. The applicants filed a further and bet-ter affidavit in response.