Obi Cubana: Why my family threw a lavish burial for my mother in 2021

Obi Cubana, the Nigerian business mogul, has revealed why his family organised a lavish funeral for Uche Iyiegbu, his late mother. 

Iyiegbu passed away at the age of 78 in December 2020. She was laid to rest in Afor Uzo Oba, Anambra state in July 2021.

The burial ceremony was graced by an avalanche of prominent Nigerians. It also became the subject of discussion on social media.

In a recent interview on WithChude, Cubana said his family threw a sumptuous burial because of the promise they made to their mother before she died.

Cubana said his family resolved to hold a lush funeral for Iyiegbu because she nearly broke a generational jinx.

“In my family, nobody has lived up to 80. My father died at 66. My grandmother died at 75. My grandfather died at 78,” he said.

“And then we now told my mum ‘you will break this. We are comfortable right now. We are all living together, all married, successful. Just break it. If it is a generational jinx, just break it. And I would celebrate it. The kind of party I will throw for you,” he said.

“… And we started saving up for that. She died on the eve of 31st December when she should have been 79, after celebrating 78. And the good thing is that from 74, every year we celebrate her massively. Even during the COVID year, we celebrated her in my brother’s house in Abuja. We did not travel. That was the only way.

“She was a humanitarian. We were now planning the 80. She was so much looking forward to that age and what happened happened. I now said at 78 and a half she has tried. Let us now bring those whole things to celebrate her. At least she tried. She almost broke it. So that was why we went all out.”