Former Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas died of poverty and not sickness, his first son, Joseph Wayas Jr, has said.
Wayas, the Senate president in the Second Republic between 1979 and 1983, died at a London hospital in 2021. He was 83 years old.
Speaking with The Nation in Abuja, Nigeria, Wayas Jr said his father would still have been alive today, if he had access to continuous and timely medical care.
He also rued the delay in conducting the funeral of his father, and expressed displeasure with the Committee set up by the Cross River State Government to organise the funeral.
He however expressed gratitude to Governor Ben Ayade, for being responsive and decisive following the announcement of the senior Wayas’ demise by setting up the Committee and empowering it to plan the burial.
He regretted the delay in carrying out the burial of his father, saying there is no reason he should not be buried within 30 to 40 days of his death.
The junior Wayas said in the last three years before his father’s death, his sister in London bore the cost of his treatment and maintaining the corpse since 2021.
Wayas Jr also expressed the family’s gratitude to President Muhamudu Buhari, who facilitated his father’s trip to England and provided funds for him to have access to medical care abroad.
“Buhari and the Federal Government gave my dad money to go outside. For that reason he lived three years longer. The support provided by the Federal Government barely lasted four months before it washed its hands off the matter.
“It got to a point where the Federal Government said they cannot do anything anymore if the National Assembly cannot do something.
“There were plenty of attempts by members of the National Assembly to intercede but the leadership of the National Assembly was not forthcoming. Even a letter written from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government to the NASS leadership to take over from where it had stopped in caring for Wayas did not get a response.
“If my father had received the kind of care that a man his age and personality should have received, Rt. Hon. Dr Wayas would still have been alive today.”
“My dad did not die of sickness. My dad died of poverty. We can give honour to Buhari because had Buhari not determined that my dad should go out for medical treatment immediately, he would have died sooner,” he said.