Nigeria’s former President of the Senate, Dr Joseph Wayas, who passed away on November 30, 2021, is set for burial.
Wayas will be buried on the same date this year, marking three years since his death.
The Secretary of the Central Planning Committee for Wayas’ burial, Dr Dorn-Cklaimz Enamhe, announced this during a press briefing in Calabar yesterday.
Wayas, who died at the age of 80 in a London hospital, was repatriated to Nigeria on July 10, 2024, after spending over two years in a UK morgue.
Born in 1941 in Obanliku, Wayas served as Senate President during Nigeria’s Second Republic from 1979 to 1983. Enamhe expressed gratitude to Governor Bassey Otu and others for facilitating the return of Wayas’s body and urged all who admired him to join in honouring his memory.
He highlighted Governor Otu’s commitment that no elder statesman from Cross River who dies abroad will remain in a foreign land and that their remains will be brought home.
Enamhe further explained that the committee worked closely with various authorities in Nigeria and the Nigerian High Commission in the UK to verify the authenticity of the body. “Upon its return, his wife and children conducted a thorough assessment and confirmed it was indeed their father,” he stated, affirming that the body belongs to the former Senate president.
He noted that the burial was delayed due to disputes among family members, which have now been resolved, allowing the preparations to proceed.
Enamhe thanked the media for informing the nation about Wayas’s body status.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River Governor, Nsa Gil, announced that the funeral will occur at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar, followed by interment in Wayas’s hometown of Bassang, Obanliku Local Government Area. Dignitaries, including current Senate President Godswill Akpabio, are expected to attend the funeral.
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