Even after death, no family turns up to claim Clifford Orji’s body

It’s been six months since convicted cannibal, Clifford Orji, died at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos, but still nobody has come out to claim his body for a proper burial.

It is reported that even while in prison serving his sentence, he never received a visit from any family member. He was there for 13 years before his death on August 12, 2012 and all officials learnt about his relatives was that they were far away.

Orji who was suffering from a mental illness allegedly died of natural causes according to a coronary report. Although it was reported that he was stooling and vomiting, a doctor at the hospital in the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, alleged that did not happen.

According to reports, spokesperson for the Nigerian Prisons Service, Lagos Command, Biyi Jeje, said that prisons officials had made a number of efforts to trace his family but all failed.

“All he was able to say was that they were far away. But with the little lead to go on with, officials could not successfully trace his family.

“I think the family just did not want to associate with him considering all the things that were said about him,” Jeje said.

Speaking on Orji’s state of mind, Jeje said he received medical care from a doctor at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, who visited the Kirikiri Maximum Prison hospital monthly.

“The doctor came once every month to attend to prisoners who had mental illnesses and Orji was one of the people he was treating at the time. We have an agreement with the psychiatric hospital on the treatment of prisoners.

“We also have an agreement with the Isolo General Hospital, which was why Orji was taken there when he died. The autopsy was done there and he was buried by the hospital,” he said.