The controversy surrounding the failure of the Cross River State Government and the family of the late former Senate President, Joseph Wayas, to bury the late man 14 months after his demise is not about to abate.

Reports from multiple sources say the body of the late second Republic Senate President who died in December 2021, has been abandoned in London, United Kingdom, over 14 months after his death.

Between the Cross River State Government and the late Wayas’s family, it is like a game of ping-pong, with government sources apparently pushing the responsibility to the family, and vice versa.

Recall that Joseph Wayas was pronounced dead at a London hospital in December 2021, at 80 years of age after a protracted illness.

To many, he had lived an eventful life, and played a critical role in Nigeria’s political landscape.

Wayas was born in Basang, Obudu, Cross River State on 21st May, 1941.

He served as commissioner for transport, South-Eastern State, now broken into Akwa-Ibom and Cross River states, from 1972 – 1974.

When General Olusegun Obasanjo terminated military rule in 1979, Joseph Wayas was elected to the Senate on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and was appointed Senate President.

Wayas left office, along with other members of the Shagari administration, when General Muhammadu Buhari staged a coup on new year’s eve of 1983, and he went into exile.

He returned in 1987 and was held in political detention from 1987 – 1988.

Until his death, he was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

His last major political appearance was in 2010, when former president Goodluck Jonathan bestowed on him the title of Grand Commander of the order on the Niger.

It’s been over 14 months now since his demise and it’s yet unclear to many as to why his body is still in the morgue in UK.

PM NEWS reported that governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers had inaugurated a funeral planning committee in which Kanu Agabi was named Chairperson and funds were made available.

According to DAILY TRUST, a fraction of the family claims that there was no money to attend to the remains of the late Senate President, and to organise his funeral, thereby casting the blame on the funeral committee. Another fraction of the family blames Wayas Jr., the eldest son of the late Senate President, for the delay. On the other hand, the funeral planning committee claims that Wayas Jr. had a better explanation for the delayed funeral, because they had made sufficient arrangements for Joseph Wayas to be laid to rest.

While there have been claims and counter claims as to who the blame falls on, the bottom line still remains that after over 14months of his demise, Joseph Wayas corpse still lays in the morgue in a foreign land.