THE STORY OF A DEAD RELATION WHO IMPREGNATED HIS WIFE AND BEGOT MORE CHILDREN YEARS AFTER HE WAS BURIED.

Mrs Immaculata Odinkemelu had been summoned to the village by her husband's people for interrogation that could lead to her final banishment from the village.

But the elders were bound to first listen to her before the predetermined judgement was read to her.

The Umuada or the female and married relations of Immaculata's late husband had been briefed and were ready to do the needful of disgracefully escorting their late brother's wife to her father's house at Uhuagu.

The widow had not only committed abomination but had also garnished the impunity with lies from the grave.

That the widow refused to allow Mr. Obioma Odinkemelu from providing for her sexual needs, an assignment given to him by the deceased's kinsmen being the only surviving brother of the dead man, was not the main offence, but the widow's claim that her dead husband was responsible for her two subsequent pregnancies and the resultant children was the main matter that needed further enquiry.

She needed to be stopped before she corrupted the family with bastards.

The late Mr. Innocent Odinkemelu and his wife had only two girls aged 5 and 3 when he died of colon cancer. He was aged 38 while his widow was just 30.

What was even more startling was the fact that the two questionable children who were conceived after late Mazi Innocent died resembled him, making most people dispute the initial denial of the dead man's brother, Obioma that he had neither seen passage of Immaculata's private parts nor the trunk road to her sanctuary.

A date was fixed for an open trial and Mazi Innocent's widow was duly invited and was asked to come with her people.

Immaculata was very prepared.

Being a senior person in a big commercial bank and a trained lawyer, she was able to arrange her defence with her impeccable evidence at her armpits. She believed that the trial appointment would settle the matter once and for all.

The accused arrived her husband's family compound with her entourage which included her parents, two brothers and two men dressed as doctors with a nurse who came in a bus with a hospital logo.

The head or the Obi of Umu Odinkemelu greeted everybody and went straight to the matter of the day.

"Our wife, I feel sad that I would be saddled with the responsibility of presiding over a serious matter bothering on scandal involving you.

"I'm particularly worried because you are from a good home and our brother never complained about you up until he died few years ago.

"We were seriously bothered when Mazi Obioma your husband's elder brother reported that you didn't find him man enough to grace your bed having been assigned to so do by the family after your husband's death. Yes, you work and are well paid but you need a man figure who should be taking care of you and the kids as our custom demands.

"You were the person who without compulsion gave Obioma the knife used to shave your head three days after your husband burial. That technically made you his wife.

"We were miffed when Mazi Obioma reported back to us that you claimed that you didn't understand the implications of giving him the shaving knife and would not hear any of that 'outdated custom'.

"The result is here for all to see!

"Now tell us who impregnated you or fathered the two male children you begot after our brother's death.

"I yield the floor for you," ended Obi Odinkemelu.

"Ndi di m or my husbands. Thank you so much for this opportunity to clear my name", Immaculata started stuttering.

"My dead husband Mazi Innocent Odinkemelu is the father of my two sons, Obiajulu and Nnaechigha", the widow said with a calm voice.

But the head of Umuada or female relatives of her husband would not allow her to continue.

"So, you men including the titled ones would want to sit down here to listen to abomination with your ears! If you are affected by her juju, I'm not!

"Nnam ha anukaria m na ihe mana afusigoharia ha na anya' meaning 'my ancestors must have heard more horrible things than me but I have seem more than them with my eyes!'" the elderly woman shouted but she was persuaded to calm down.

And Immaculata continued. "Ever since my husband died, I have not slept with any other man and I can swear by any oath you are willing to administer on me.

"What happened was that when my husband was told by the doctors that he had only few months to live, he decided to harvest his spermatozoa or mkpuru nwa and stored them in a bank called Sperm Bank.

"My husband instructed me to use the sperm to fertilize my eggs to bear as many children for him as I could and that was exactly what I did. The products are these handsome boys that people say resemble him.

"My husband's stored sperm was used to fertilize my eggs in the bank and the foetus or "nwa" formed was planted inside my womb through a process called assisted conception by artificial insemination. I carried the babies normally and delivered them normally.

"My husbands, the doctors who performed the process decided to escort me to this place to further help me prove my innocence.

"They came not only with the contract my husband signed with them but also a video recording of his discussions with them as per the instructions on what to do with his stored sperms", Immaculata ended.

There was such a silence that a drop of a pin would make a loud noise after the doctors took time to explain the process of assisted conception and how a man or woman could bank his or her future children in a frozen form.

This medical discovery has given hopes to many ladies who are not yet married but are afraid that they might not be able to produce healthy eggs when they eventually get married.

Such ladies can harvest their healthy eggs while the eggs could still be found in her ovaries and bank them.

It costs between N150,000 and N300,000 to bank your eggs and sperms with a Biobank in Lagos, Nigeria.

An ageing lady could pay someone else, called a surrogate, to carry the pregnancy for her of a baby conceived with her own egg.

A surrogate costs between N600,000 and N2,000,000 in Lagos, Nigeria and could be cheaper in the hinterlands.

Thanks to advances in medicine.

Right now, anybody can be assured while in the grave that his wife or husband would make babies for him or her.

In this, the meaning of "Afamefuna" becomes a reality in that "your name shall never be lost" as your worthy replacement can be born long after you have died.