‘Why Ex-senate President, Wayas, Yet to be Buried’
Son accused of hoarding corpses
Joseph Ushigiale
Contrary to the widely held belief that the remains of the late former Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas have been abandoned in a London hospital, fresh facts have emerged indicating that the Cross River State government and other influential men of goodwill had concluded arrangements with a London-based undertaker, Slaters International Funeral Directors Limited as far back as February 14, 2022 for the burial.
According to information available to THISDAY, when the late former Senate President and his wife passed in London, the state government was immediately informed. The state governor, Ben Ayade immediately set up a committee headed by former Minister of Justice, Kanu Agabi to oversee the burial activities.
To facilitate the committee’s work, Ayade was said to have approved and immediately released N200 million to the committee with a promise to release another tranche of N50 million. It was gathered that the committee released N100 million to a sub-committee vested with the task of repatriating the remains of Wayas and his wife and headed by the former Director General, Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Dave Ashang to liaise with the family to achieve the purpose.
A state government official who is privy to the arrangements for the burial told THISDAY that “the moment the governor announced the N200 million approval and went ahead to release the money to the committee, trouble started. The late Dr. Wayas’ first son, Joey rather than co-operating with the Agabi burial committee to bring back his parents’ remains from London to Nigeria for burial, he and some of his siblings started causing trouble. First, he insisted that rather than Agabi, he preferred former governor Donald Duke to head the burial committee.
“He didn’t stop at that, he started making disparaging remarks against Agabi. What was Agabi’s fault? The committee said they can’t proceed without taking custody of the remains in Nigeria. This request irked him and he proceeded to direct that going forward no one should contact him directly except through his lawyers. At this point, Agabi had had enough. He decided to step down,” THISDAY was told.
Meanwhile, while all these were going on, the late Wayas’ maternal cousin and former Senator representing Cross River North, Musa Adede reportedly stepped in. He was said to have immediately contacted the children in London and intimated them on his desire to begin the process of repatriating the two remains to Nigeria.
THISDAY gathered that after securing a-go-ahead, he contacted Slaters International Funeral Directors, which describes itself as specialists in international repatriation of human remains, located at N0.4, The Metro Centre, St. Johns Road, Isleworth, Hounslow, London through Donna Wayas, the deceased’s daughter for a quote to repatriate the two bodies.
Slater International, in an invoice January 24, 2022 sent to Donna but sighted by THISDAY, quoted 18, 278,00 pounds to cover repatriation fees and caskets for the two bodies; it quoted another 4,378,00 pounds to cover flight to Abuja, health waiver and customs clearance all totaling 22,656,00 pounds.
On receiving the quote, Adede on February 14, 2022, in documents sighted by THISDAY wired the sum of 18,000 pounds to the undertakers in London. He also contacted the MIC Funeral Homes in Lagos, Nigeria and paid another sum of N4,085,000 for a two-day contract to provide a hearse, pallbearers, mobile band and handling and management fees.
Regrettably, one year after all these payments, neither Adede nor Ashang, acting on behalf of the state government got any co-operation from the family.
After waiting for over a year, the London-based funeral company, afraid of being sanctioned or investigated by the authorities, in a recent email to Donna dated February 13, 2023 read: “Please can you supply us with bank details so that the monies can be paid back to you. We are no longer able to keep in our account unless we start repatriation now. If you decide to proceed in the future, we will supply you with updated breakdown of costs involved. Kind regards. Signed by Maria Garofalo, Case co-ordinator.
Shockingly, it was finally revealed that the children decided unilaterally to bury their mother, Mrs. Wayas in London.
“ Given the manner in which some of the adult children have shrouded the burial in secrecy, it is not clear if Wayas too has not been buried. This is the bone of contention between the state government committee and the children based in London,” THISDAY was told.
