Ahmadu Bello University mortuary attendant, Mr. Babatunde Sunday of Human Anatomy department, on the 27th of February, 2020 vowed to “slap” any corpse that will make an attempt on his life.
He disclosed this in an exclusive interview during a courtesy visit to his office at the College of Medical Sciences.
According to him, the job he applied for was not available so he was offered the job of a mortuary attendant by the university and was trained to embalm and dissect corpse for students’ practical.
“It was not what I requested for but being what they gave to me I had to accept it. I was trained on how to embalm and how to dissect. I did not choose this line. I was just pushed there because the person working there died”.
Speaking further, he said prior to his transfer to gross anatomy where he dissects human corpses for students’ practical, he has worked for eight years in the embalmment section.
Responding to the question on whether it is true that corpse talk or roam the mortuary, Mr. Sunday maintained that “people say dead body talk or wake up . There is nothing like that. Somebody that has died has died. So anybody saying corpse do wake up is a fake liar”.
Still speaking on whether he had ever experienced any odd or bizarre occurrence while doing his job, he quickly responds “no, no, no. Nothing shake me. I will slap the corpse and it will die again”.
Mr. Sunday stressed that corpses used for the practical are those of armed robbers, kidnappers and unclaimed bodies that have stayed more than six months in the mortuary.
According to him, he can run an autopsy on a dead body, stressing that he may not be a qualified doctor but learnt it as well as acquired other medical skills during the course of his work.
In his words, “I am not a qualified medical doctor but I know a lot about the human anatomy. I know how to perform autopsy because when I go out to other places, I see how they do it and I come to learn to do it myself. I have performed several autopsies since I have been working with the university”.
He further explained that embalmment is a method used for preserving dead bodies in a dried form so that they can stay long without decomposing. While Gross is the practical aspect of the work where the cadavers are dissected for students’ practical.
Mr. Sunday added that he loves the work he is doing and he is not abashed to be working as a mortuary attendant. In fact, he claimed other universities consult him for work and he delivers the job satisfactorily.