The locals call them ‘ambulance’ drivers.” This is a misnomer. This is because their jobs entail more than carrying wounded patients to hospitals in emergency cases. It is rather all about driving a hearse that takes corpses to either their final resting places or to mortuaries closer to their hometowns, for safekeeping till the day of burial.
But over the years, many myths have been built around those who convey dead bodies and the work they do, so much that they attract the same fear and awe as the corpses they carry. Some believe that they speak to dead bodies.
This belief was confirmed by Mrs. Chinwendu Nnadi “Nwanyi Ambulance”, the female hearse driver who, in a recent story published in Saturday Sun, boasted that she speaks to stubborn dead bodies and they obey her.
Some people believe that hearse drivers see ghosts from time to time. Others believe that they are half-human, half-spirit since the activities they engage in have something to do with dead bodies. These were the concerns that the correspondent took up with some of the hearse drivers in Lagos.
Encounter with robbers, spirits
One of them, Paul Ukwuoma insisted on not disclosing much of his experiences on the job. He said there were dead bodies that would be reluctant to embark on a journey they do not agree with until they are appeased or appealed to, he talked about such dangers as being attacked by men of the underworld. He recalled a scary incident that happened to him. “I was travelling from Lagos to Owerri, late in the evening. I had to stop over at Benin when it was dark. I set out very early in the morning the following day at 4.30 am. That was when I ran into some dangerous boys. They were five, all armed. They collected all my money. But thank God that they did not harm me. One gave me a black eye from a hot slap he landed on my face for trying to resist them initially.”
Left penniless by the experience, he said he went to the bank after delivering the corpse to take some money with which he fuelled his car on his way back to Lagos. According to him, his relations had asked him to quit the business because of the risks involved, physically and spiritually.
He also said he had experienced the much talked about anger of the dead body’s hovering spirit. He explained: “There was a day I was conveying a corpse from Lagos to Enugu. Suddenly, the vehicle stopped. There was nothing that the mechanic did not do to make the vehicle work but there was no way. We spent hours until I called one of my colleagues. He advised me on what to do. I am one of those who did not believe in the tradition of appeasing dead bodies when it comes to conveying corpses. But that day, I believed. My colleague advised me to pour schnapps on the engine of the Volvo car and utter whatever I wanted. He also asked me to go around the vehicle three times. Could you believe that as soon as I did that and tried starting the vehicle, it responded. From then on, I started fearing the dead. When they say there is nothing like spirits, it’s not true. Spirits exist. If you have a third eye, you would see them. Some of them died prematurely and are angry.”
He swore to quit the business as soon as he’s able to make enough money from it. “When I have enough money to set up a good business like building materials business, I will stop.”
Adebiyi Oladipo Mayungbe, from Ogun State, told Saturday Sun that he joined the business after losing his former job during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, his friend living in Lagos Island where his elder brother worked with a funeral company introduced him to the business. He started as a corpse dresser and bearer. He narrated his first experience which he said took place at the Ikeja General Hospital mortuary. “When we were told to come to pick up the corpse, I was scared. But I later summoned up courage. After all, there is nothing to fear.”
He, however, began to pick more interest in the job when he was asked to accompany a corpse to Ughelli, Delta State. He recalled: “On the day of the event, we appeared in our attire. I really loved the attire and funeral arrangements. I worked with the company for about nine months.” But since then he had not looked back. According to him, he continued with the business after his friend advised him to come down to Isolo, Lagos. He had a car and driver’s licence and assured him of a lucrative business.
After working for the company for about nine months, he was given a car for which he is paying by instalments. He noted: “Since then, I have been enjoying the job. I personally like driving and going to places. So the job just matches my lifestyle. That is why I don’t find it difficult when I am travelling to anywhere. I see it as a kind of going on an excursion.”
Having been on the job for about two years, Mayungbe, father to a girl and a boy, shared some personal experiences as a hearse driver.
On the common belief about the spirit of dead bodies proving ‘stubborn’ and stopping vehicles from conveying them to wherever they wouldn’t want, he said: “Actually, I have heard about such experiences. But I did not believe it until the day it happened to me. I was travelling to Enugu with a corpse. The bearer and the daughter of the deceased were seated in front of the car with me. Nothing was wrong with my vehicle. But when we got to Sagamu, the engine of the vehicle suddenly stopped working. I called my boss. He said he was going to bring another vehicle with the mechanic to transfer the corpse while he (the mechanic) would come back with the bad ‘ambulance’ (hearse) to Isolo. Before all these could be done, it was night and we had nowhere to sleep. So we had to sleep in the vehicle with the corpse. When we took off the following day, on getting to Delta State, I had a flat tyre. When we got to Anambra State, my timing belt cut. It was then the woman in the vehicle started calling on the spirit of the dead man by name, telling him to come, let’s go home. She told me to buy some gin. I bought two sachets of the gin and went to the back and sprinkled them on the corpse. The mechanic came and also helped me to fix the timing belt. After that, the journey continued smoothly and unhindered.”
A driver’s scary experience
Another hearse driver, Sholesi Olamipo Gbenga, also from Ogun State revealed that he had been in the business of ferrying corpses across Nigerian cities for the past 12 years. A graduate of Business Administration from Olabisi Onabanjo University, he is the owner of “God is Able Funeral Homes,” Isolo, Lagos. By way of reminiscence of how he got into the business, he said after graduation, he initially ran a business centre in a small ‘container’ inside Isolo General Hospital, very close to the mortuary. He operated phone calls services and the sale of recharge cards while waiting for the day he would be called up for gainful employment that would fit his status.
Read the full story in The Sun
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