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Senate laments abandonment of Wayas’ remains in London morgue

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The prolonged internment of former Senate President Joseph Wayas’ remains in a mortuary 14 months after his dying in a London hospital drew the ire of the Senate on Tuesday.

On November 20, 2021, Wayas, a senator during the Second Republic, passed away. His body was interred in the hospital morgue. He had been a patient at the hospital in London.

A motion put up by Senator Gershom Bassey stated that the Senate and the Federal Government should feel embarrassed by the delay in the former Senate President’s burial fourteen months after his death.

He consequently called on the Federal government as a matter of urgency to evacuate the remains of the deceased from the London hospital mortuary for a befitting burial in Nigeria, just as he also called for his immortalisation.

He suggested that the Senate urgently take over the burial plans of the deceased to save the country from further embarrassment.

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Bassey said, “It is very worrisome and embarrassing that 14 months after the death of the former Senate President, his remains still lie in the morgue in the UK.

“The Senate needs to as a matter of urgency, intervene by taking over the burial plans of the deceased.”

In his remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the delay in the burial of the former Senate President, 14 months after his death, was very embarrassing to the National Assembly and the Federal Government.

He said, “This is not a good commentary on us as a country. Unfortunately, to stop this type of embarrassment, an attempt made last year for Presiding officers of the National Assembly to be given medical support for life by Nigeria was rejected by us during voting on constitution amendments.

“The embarrassment at hand with the Joseph Wayas remains, calls for reflection and I hope the 10th Assembly will do the needful.”

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