In Abuja, the family of Mary Habila — a twenty-six-year-old nurse who died on June 27 at the residence of Nigeria's minister of works — has appealed to the inspector-general of police to release her body after three weeks in custody. The family has fulfilled every procedural requirement asked of them, yet an unresolved dispute over an autopsy, which they refuse on cultural and traditional grounds, has left a father unable to bury his daughter. What began as a question of cause of death has become a question of power, grief, and whose authority governs the dead.
Nurse's family demands body release from police custody after three weeks
Mary Habila, 26-year-old nurse, died at minister's residence; family prevented from burying her for three weeks due to autopsy dispute and body retention.