Ogirisi Igbo, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, has recommended the prompt burial of the dead as a way to reduce the rising cost of burial ceremonies in Igboland.
He stated this in an interview with the media.
According to him, the Igbos could be learn from Muslims, who abhor keeping corpses for more than 24 hours irrespective of the personality or amount of wealth the deceased may have possessed before his demise.
Ezeonwuka, who owns the popular Rojenny Games village, Oba Anambra state, blamed the church for encouraging the preservation of corpses, and the staging of lavish burial ceremonies.
He said: “It is witchcraft to leave corpses in morgues.
“One who dies should be buried immediately. The burial ceremony that involves only the essential traditional rite can be done some other time.
“Keeping the corpse in the mortuary means sending both the dead and bereaved family to hell because a more money would be coughed out for the burial.
“Besides, the huge amount of money the Igbo people spend during the burial ceremony of their dead ones is economic waste.”
