The late former Senate President Joseph Wayas will be buried on November 30, three years after his death.
Secretary of the central planning committee for the burial Dorn-Cklaimz Enamhe announced at a press conference in Calabar on Thursday.
Wayas died in a London hospital at the age of 80 on November 30, 2021. however, his body only arrived on July 10, 2024, after over two years in a United Kingdom morgue.
Enamhe called on all those who admired Wayas to join in honouring him.
According to him, Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu has assured them that no elder statesman or leader from Cross River who dies abroad would be left in a foreign land.
“When we brought the body back, his wife and children assessed it critically and confirmed that it was their father, so, as I speak to you the body is that of the former president of the Senate.
“Unfortunately the body has been kept this long due to issues and disagreement among members of his family.
“We had to wait for these issues to be resolved and as of today, they have been resolved, that is why we are going ahead with the burial,” he said.
Otu’s chief press secretary Nsa Gil said the funeral would be held at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar and later in the deceased’s hometown in Bassang, Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River.
He added that there would be many dignitaries including Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Wayas was born in 1941 in Obanliku. He was president of the Senate from 1979 to 1983 during the Second Republic.
