The burial of late actress, Henrietta Kosoko, wife of Nollywood veteran actor, Jide Kosoko took place few weeks ago in Abraka Village in Delta State. It was a 2-day event which started with the first part tagged Artistes’ night/wake keep.
Her body was transported to Abraka in Delta state for burial shortly after her LYING-in-STATE at her Lagos house in Akoka Lagos. However, Kosoko was absent at the burial in Abraka, and this generated a lot of buzz all over the media.
Prior to reports making rounds that Prince Jide Kosoko did not perform her marriage rite thus the demand for her corpse by her family members, was gathered that it is the culture of the Urhobo people where she hailed from to bring their daughters home for burial except the family says otherwise.
Yorubamoviegist.com gathered that the veteran actor failed to attend his late wife’s burial ceremony because he was scared of his late wife’s family traditions and the traditional rite he may be asked to perform, if he had gone for the burial.
According to the customs and tradition of the Urhobo tribe, if a lady is not properly married by paying her dowry, the husband has no authority over her even after her death and also the children produced in the union, belong to the lady’s family.
YGM.com also gathered that the tradition does not allow the man to take the bride price of any baby produced in the union when they are set for marriage. Another part of the tradition that may not permit a Delta lady to be buried outside the state is when the family suspects a foul play in her death.
Also, if a man didn’t marry a Delta lady legally when she was alive, the man we learnt will hold a befitting wedding with her corpse and also make love to her before she will be buried.
Research further showed that, Urhobo traditional marriage is unique to Urhobo culture and traditions. Indeed, marriage in Urhobo worldview is an enduring institution. It is sacred. It looms large enough to tie two independent families together forever.
When blessed with offsprings, especially male offsprings, the nuptial knot is wedded with a cord that neither death nor divorce is able to unlock or separate. From the onset that the principal and most central difference between their marriage system and that in western cultures (particularly the European based cultures) is the fact that Urhobo marriage extends beyond the couples directly involved; it embraces the extended families of the spouses. Indeed, Urhobo marriage is a marriage of two families.
This is so because the families play very central roles in ensuring the success of the marital relationships from the time of courtship through the marriage negotiations to the contracting of the marriage. Divorce is rare; Urhobo traditional marriage endures beyond the life of the husband. In fact, it is the wife’s life span.
This is due to the fact that on the death of the husband, the wife is passed on to a member of the husband’s family for continued marriage.
This custom provides emotional and financial stability, and continuity of the marriage. The families are also expected to intervene or mediate when there are problems or conflicts between husband and wife, and when the marriage relationship is threatened in any way, this is in total contrast to the western marriage system where family intervention is seen as interference. The nucleus of Urhobo traditional marriage takes various forms.
From time, there have been some distinct processes of marriage proposals or types of traditional marriages. Any of these marriage forms are recognized by their society, as they form key aspects of their customs and traditions. These are : Esavwijotor and Ose.
Information also has it that the actor hasn’t for once been to late Henrietta’s village before, even while she was alive and he doesn’t know any of her family members, which we learnt was the reason they demanded her remains to be brought back to Abraka, Delta State.
These reasons, we scooped, scared the actor away from attending his wife’s burial in Abraka Village, Delta State.