The chairman of Nasarawa United football club, Barrister Isaac Danladi has said the body of their player, Late Chineme Martins is still in the morgue in Lafia because of the ongoing lockdown caused by COVID-19.
It will be recalled that Nasarawa United defender, Chineme Martins slumped and died on Sunday, March 8 while playing for the ‘solid miners’ against visiting Katsina United on March 8.
Daily Trust gathered from the management of the club that even as the family was to come for the remains of their son on April 8 for eventual burial on April 18, the arrangement has been put on hold due to the present lockdown.
Danladi said the club is in constant touch with the family but going by the situation on ground, it is not possible for Martins to be buried immediately.
He said “Everywhere is shutdown so how are we going to move the corpse?. Are we going to take it by air?. Secondly even in the neighbouring states where this corpse will have to pass through has been locked down.
“So it is a force majeure. It is not anybody’s fault. The good thing is that the family is also co-operating. The fact that it is not being made a media event does not mean that nothing is being done about Chineme Martins.
“We are on top of the matter. Government is working closely with the family to ensure that the boy is given a befitting burial. He is a young lad and he needs to go and rest once and for all.
“We are also mindful of the psychological trauma that the family is passing through but like I told you, there are challenges and these are natural. Nobody anticipated COVID-19. If not for the coronavirus, he would have been buried as the family proposed.”
