Worried by the high cost of burial and the frequent clashes between the traditional worshipers and churches during burial ceremonies, youths in Otanufe Community in Okpokwu local government area of Benue State have abolished what they called joint burial ceremony of both tradition and church hitherto practised by the community.

The Otanufe Community National Forum in a five-point resolution after its national day celebration recently in Ingle mission, it was resolved that henceforth there shall be a clear demarcation between a traditional and church burial in the community.

The resolutions jointly signed by the National President, Clement Adah and the National Secretary, Adoga Michael, said the decision to abolish the age-long tradition of observing both traditional and church burial simultaneously must be stopped in other to reduce the unnecessary friction during burial ceremonies in the community.

In addition to this, the community said separating the two burial ceremonies will reduce the financial burdens of the deceased relations who before now are compelled to meet the requirements for both the tradition and church burial, stressing that “as a community, we must wake up to the reality of globally acceptable practices while holding our tradition with high esteem”.

The resolutions titled “Mode of Conducting Burials Abducted”, enjoyed the adherence of the two practices to comply with the new mode of conducting burial ceremonies in the community, adding that “there will be nothing like combining traditional burial with Christian burial in the community henceforth.

“Church burial should be conducted in accordance with Christian belief. This means that there shall be no other demand for any extra goats, pig or animal except the one that will be presented by the deceased family on the day of the final burial rite (OPIOTU).”

Contrary to the usual practice of embarking on a traditional burial rite after church burial, the community resolved that “after the church final burial rite, every member of the community should return to their various homes,” stressing that failure to abide by this mode of burial in the community will face severe sanction.

While insisting that the traditional burial ceremony is very clear without any dispute, the community however maintained that “for church burials, all church leaders must ensure that no more than two (2) goats are demanded for the final burial (Opiotu) except if the family of the deceased insisted on giving more voluntarily.” (Daily Sun)

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