CHAGOURY BROTHERS BURY MOTHER IN LEBANON

Again, bliss sputters to untimely death in the household of the Chagourys. Like a worn engine sputtering to sudden death, maternal bliss has disappeared from the abode of billionaire brothers.

The bliss and luxury of having a mother and basking in her goodwill and warmth has finally deserted the doorsteps of Gilbert and Ronald. When death crept into the influential Chagoury family recently, it left with the matriarch.

For Gilbert and Ronald Chagoury, the billionaire Lebanese brothers behind Eko Hotel and Eko Atlantic City, the wound inflicted in their hearts with the recent passing of their mother may never quite heal. They, however, did not grieve; rather, they celebrated her life. The aged woman was buried in their native Beirut, Lebanon last week.

To underscore their influence and wealth, many prominent Nigerians jettisoned whatever they were doing to travel to the Middle Eastern country to join them in celebrating the life of their mother. It was gathered that while the Lebanon leg of the burial was a small but grand affair, a Lagos version is being planned for those who were unable to travel with them. Understandably, the burial party, going by reports, promises to be a show-stopper by every imagination. Though the Chagourys, who are more Nigerian than some Nigerians because of their long stay in the country and on account of their vast business interests spanning real estate, hotels, manufacturing, telecommunications and construction, are very private and are not the regular faces at social scenes, they are widely connected and wealthy.

But they would put aside their social reclusiveness to ensure they gave their mother a befitting rite of passage in typical Nigerian style.