The decomposing corpse of a 78-year-old woman, Agbenese Oshoma, have been discovered by her neighbours.

Some of the residents at Universal Road, by Medical Store Road, Okhoro axis of Benin City, became uncomfortable with the offensive odour oozing out of her house on Sunday morning.

Her two daughters residing in the house were said to have known about their mother’s death but kept the news to themselves for nine days and did not disclose what led to her death.

The offensive odour forced neighbours to barge into the house to discover the bloated body of the elderly woman.

The two children, Grace Osagede, 60, and her younger sister, Theresa Suberu, 58, told the neighbours that they were instructed by God not to disclose the death of their mother to anybody.

The two children, it was gathered, went about their normal daily chores inside the house while their mother’s corpse laid rotting away as they did not attempt to embalm the body.

Neighbours had initially perceived the stench from the building, but their inquiry was dismissed by the children of the deceased.

When the offensive odour became unbearable, the neighbours mobilised and barged into the building only to discover the decomposing body of the woman, whom everyone in the neighbourhood called “Iye,” meaning an old woman.

When the neighbours confronted the elder sister, Ms Osagede, she told them that she had instruction from the ‘Lord’ not to disclose the death of their mother to anybody.

The position was corroborated by her younger sister, Theresa, who said her elder sister asked her not to tell anyone as ‘instructed by the Lord.’

The neighbours and the landlord of the building told newsmen that they had invited the police just as they were arranging to move the corpse to a morgue.

When contacted, the Edo police spokesman Kontongs Bello, confirmed the incident.

“The Police evacuated the corpse.

The sisters were not arrested because there was no reasonable ground to arrest them.

“Every family has the right to their culture and since there is no evidence to show that they compromised the law, there is no reason to arrest them,” Mr Bello said.