Rukkayya, Mourning Wife Of Late Lawmaker Dame Thrown Out Of Marital Home By Inlaws

“Weeks after the burial of the late Taraba lawmaker, Abdulmumini Dame, his widow, Rukkayya, has been ejected from her late husband’s house in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.” Is how premiumtimes started this interesting report

And wrote in full “Investigations revealed that the woman, who is still mourning her husband, who was buried on October 26, was evicted from the apartment of her late husband by his relatives.

Mr. Dame, a three-time lawmaker, who represented Ardo–Kola in the state House of Assembly, died in Yola after brief illness late October. Controversy had later ensued over the mode of his burial rites.

His wife insisted that he should be buried in the Islamic way while relatives opted for traditional rites.

“While I insisted that Muslim rites be observed, his younger brother, Dennis Dame and other relatives said that he was not a Muslim”.

“I ran to an Upper Area Court in Jalingo on the 30th of last month to seek redress and the court gave an order that we (all parties involved) shall maintain status quo and his body should not be buried. The corpse was deposited at a morgue.”

“While we awaited further instructions from the court, his younger brother and other relatives, assisted by a top government official in the state government house defied the court order and ‘sneaked out’ the dead body and they observed traditional burial rites contrary to his Islamic belief. Muslim faithful later observed a special funeral rite in absentia for him”, the widow said.

Mrs. Dame said she married the late lawmaker after he converted to Islam nine years ago though they had no child before his death.

She alleged that her in-laws usually harassed her for not bearing a child and after her husband’s death, “she was threatened and bullied for bringing bad luck to the family”. She said she was eventually thrown out of the house.”