Our Father Did Not Die Of Poverty -Joseph Wayas’ Children

Family members of the late Senator (Dr.) Joseph Wayas have refuted the claim made by Joseph Wayas Jr. in some quarters of the media that the former president of the Nigerian senate died of poverty.

The children of the late former Senate President said that their father died of ill health in a London hospital.

They said in a statement that it is unfortunate that Joseph Wayas Jr. (otherwise known as Joey), the eldest son of the family, could say that their father died of poverty.

“The allegations made in the media about our father’s financial status before his death are false and baseless and are the handwork of his two eldest children, who feel entitled to funds from the government,” the children said in the statement.

They said that following the passage of their father in London, the Cross River State Government, in conjunction with the family, set up a burial committee and released sufficient funds to ensure that the late former Senate President is given a befitting funeral.

They stated that their father was flown abroad in August 2019 with the assistance of the Federal Government of Nigeria, when his health took a severe downturn and needed specialized and intensive medical attention.

It was alleged that his eldest son, Joey, who received the financial aid from the government, misappropriated the funds for his personal use as he has failed to give proper account of how the funds were used for their father’s healthcare and upkeep.

According to them; “If our father was poor, how could he have provided for us, his children, until we became adults, especially our eldest brother, who is still living in our father’s house?

“It is wrong to say the eldest daughter, Donna, bore the cost of our father’s treatment while alive, and maintained our late father’s corpse, when adequate provision was made by the federal and state governments for his up-keep while in England.

“Also, at the point of his demise, a senior family member stepped in and made adequate provision for his remains to be repatriated immediately to Nigeria.

“But due to reasons best known to the two eldest children, they decided not to relinquish the possession of our late father and his remains, and rather, solicited for more funds from the government and other well-meaning Nigerians in exchange for his corpse.

“If this is not the case, why are they withholding the corpse of our late father and refusing to communicate, even after the family has availed them the needed logistics to bring back our father’s remains?”

The Wayas family, while thanking the Federal and Cross River State Government for their commitment and assistance, further prevailed on them not to stay aloof from the family’s plight, but to ensure that his remains are brought back to Nigeria. And that, as a family, they have tried to make their two eldest siblings see reason with them all to no avail.

“We wish to also state that our father served his fatherland meritoriously as the Senate President, he lived a fulfilled life, and should be accorded the due respect he deserves even in death,” they said.

The late Dr. Joseph Wayas GCON was the Senate President in the 2nd republic. He died in London at the age of 80.