Imo State Governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, has condemned the attempted reintroduction of a barbaric widowhood ritual in Awo-Omamma, Oru East Local Government Area, where a widow was reportedly forced to drink water used to wash her late husband’s corpse.
The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Chief Nkechi Ugwu, ordered a full investigation into the incident and vowed that such inhuman and degrading practices would never be tolerated in the state.
According to reports, Mrs. Chika Ndubuisi, widow of the late Odinakachi Ndubuisi, was accused by her in-laws of being responsible for her husband’s death and was locked inside an ambulance with the corpse until she agreed to drink the “corpse water” to prove her innocence.
The act was foiled following a swift intervention by Chief Ugwu, the Oru East Local Government Chairman, and security operatives, after women advocacy groups — including Onurube Coalition, Virgin Heart Foundation, and Harsco Global Media — raised an urgent alert.
Chief Ugwu confirmed that the ministry’s intervention ensured the widow’s rescue and that the perpetrators were arrested for prosecution.
