Funeral Service in Nigeria today is not quite different from the ones held in the country years ago. But with the technological advancement and social media frenzy, there certainly is a new behaviour that makes it hard to decide whether mourners’ motives for attending is for content or condolence.
However, in today’s funeral services, what is deducible if the person had a good life, is the circus-like celebration where pallbearers would throw stunts with the coffin, swinging it side by side, up and down, while dancing in the process.
Regardless, the aforementioned is not the reason for writing this piece. What drew everyevery.ng attention to things that transpire in burials is how celebrities, politicians, Nigerian masses etc., all partake in the new normal.
Without taking sides, expressing personal opinions or reactions to the trends at burial services, while marking condolence registers as well as paying last respect to the deceased, our correspondent would narrowly and objectively highlight only true events that happened in Nigeria and have the readers make individual interpretations to the contents they see at such venues.
BBNaija Ex-Housemates @ Rico Swavey’s Funeral Service
The recent passing of Rico Swavay, former Big Brother Naija housemate, whose real name is Patrick Fakoya, displayed some of the ways people who pay condolence visits act around funeral services.
During the candle night procession for Swavay, everything looked normal, people were chatting lightly, exchanging pleasantries and introducing selves to new/old faces, but what triggered a certain critique of their actions by persons on social media was the aftermath of the candle night procession where the celebrities immediately went to the club to start indulging in what seemed, according to a writer, “Disrespectful” to the memory of the recently deceased.
There were videos of Ex-BBNaija Housemates, including Bella, Cross, Alex, Dorathy, Neo and the Host of the reality TV show, Ebuka, to name a few, having a great time in the club, as they were captured smoking, drinking and exercising all forms of merriment right after the Swavay was laid to rest.
Though many people in society interpreted their actions as a way of showing their last respect in view that life should be celebrated and not mourned, seeing that the late person in question had a good life until the final hour.
On the other hand, some believed it was too early for them to start partying as nobody died. They felt it was unnecessary to further post such videos and images of their activities, which made it look like clout chasing and content creation for their social media platforms, all for the sake of generating views to earn money.
Empress Njama @ Ada Ameh’s Funeral
This is another clear example of such a public display where she placed someone in a strategic position to film her with a camera while she cried loudly and then posted it on social media.
There’s Kemi Olulonyo, a media practitioner that has been capitalising on the tragedy that happened recently to Davido and Chioma regarding the death of Ifeanyi.
There are multiple cases of similar stunts that make it unclear whether people are at funeral services to mourn the passing of loved ones or create content for viewing online.
