A Nigerian family has given an outcry after their daughter, Mrs. Oluwashola Gaska (nee Adefolalu) mysteriously died and was cremated by her Polish husband, Mr. Jakub Gaska, without their consent.
According to the deceased’s elder sister at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, Mrs. Abimbola Essien-Nelson, Oluwashola was murdered and her corpse hastily cremated to cover it despite the family’s objection.
The family has petitioned the Federal Government to unravel the mystery surrounding her death and cremation.
In the petition, dated January 29, 2017, and titled, ‘Petition against Mr. Jakub Gaska for the murder, unlawful cremation and burial of Oluwashola Atunrayo Gaska (nee Adefolalu) in Krakow, Poland, on December 28, 2016,’ the family detailed how the late Oluwashola, who studied in Poland, settled in the country and later married Gaska in 2010.
The petition read in part:
“The last verbal conversation I had with the deceased took place on December 24, 2016, and she made no complaint about her health. At about 11.28am, on Wednesday, December 28, 2016, I received a telephone call from the husband that ‘there had been an accident, Shola had fallen unconscious and had died.’
“The husband did not tell me the nature of the so called accident. I was still conversing with the husband when the telephone was disconnected.
“The husband later called me back on the same day, stating that Oluwashola fell ill on Tuesday, and that he and his sister took her to the a hospital (the name of the hospital was not provided). He said she passed away at about 3am on Wednesday, December 28, 2016.”
The petition added that plans were being made to travel to Krakow to give the deceased a befitting burial when her husband informed them that her remains would be cremated as he and Olwashola agreed during a discussion.
It was gathered that the family requested that the husband wait until the arrival of family members in January 2017 to partake in the funeral rites.
“We also made it clear to him that because of the sudden nature of her death, we want to see her corpse. We sent several sets of representatives from the Nigerian community to him in this regard, but he refused to allow anyone access to the corpse. His response was that Oluwashola said only Abmibola and no other person, should see her corpse,” the petition read.
Gaska reportedly cremated Oluwashola’s remains on January 2, 2017. He also allegedly interred the ashes on January 7, 2017, without officially informing the Adefolalus.
Essien Nelson recalled that the husband’s final words on the heated issue regarding the cremation was that :”The cremation will proceed as planned and there is nothing anyone can do about it”
On how the couple met, Essien said:
In 2000, Shola travelled to Poland to study Architecture,after graduating and working for some years the deceased informed the family that she had met and intended to marry Jakub Gaska and settle down in Poland”
“As an African family, the expectation of the family was that the potential husband would formally visit Nigeria to comply with Yoruba native laws and customs in respect to the traditional marriage rights but this did not happen”
“Reluctantly and for the happiness of the deceased, the family sent a representative to Poland for the church wedding and I was the representative of the family with the wedding taking place on the 15th of August,2010”
“The matrimonial home was at Ui.Owiecimska 33,32-551,Wygielzow,GMINA Babice District,Chrzanow County ,Lesser Poland, a suburb of Krakow where the deceased lived a communal life style as had to share the home with her mother –in- law”
“In her life time, the deceased taught English language as a foreign language. Shola also owned a photography business and made reasonable income with which she maintained the matrimonial home “
“The husband was in and out of employment between 2010 and 2016 as his highest educational qualifications was high school certificate, though his last employer was the IKEA Store in Krakow,Poland”
“I constantly received reports that the deceased had constant frictions in the marriage due to the over bearing influence and meddling stance of her mother-in-law and as a matter of fact my sister had informed me of their plans to relocate to a separate house for the privacy of herself and her husband as there was no privacy whatsoever in the matrimonial home.”
The Senate President, Speaker, House of Representatives, President, Republic of Poland, among others, were also copied in the petition.
