The family of late academic, Pius Adesanmi, have criticised his burial
in Canada, saying it goes against the deceased’s wishes.
Adesanmi, a popular professor and public commentator, was one of the
over 100 passengers who died in an Ethiopian airline crash on March
10.
He was buried last week at his adopted country Canada where he lived
with his wife and daughter and taught at Carleton University.
However, a statement by his other family members on Sunday showed they
were not carried along in the burial.
“It is now evident, that our late son’s remains were interred in
Ottawa without family consent and contrary to the wish of the deceased
to be buried in his place of birth, Isanlu. To our shock and chagrin,
this internment was carried out without the knowledge or consent of
Prof. Adesanmi’s aged mother and his eldest daughter,” a family
representative, Mike Oyelude, said in a statement.
Part of the statement read; Saturday November 2, 2019 made it exactly
one week since we read on social media about the purported burial of
our son, the late Prof. Pius Adebola Adesanmi. This burial reportedly
took place in Ottawa on October 26, 2019. Since the so-called burial,
we have waited for confirmation and used established channels to find
out what really happened.
It is now evident, that our late son’s remains were interred in Ottawa
without family consent and contrary to the wish of the deceased to be
buried in his place of birth, Isanlu. To our shock and chagrin, this
internment was carried out without the knowledge or consent of Prof.
Adesanmi’s aged mother and his eldest daughter.
Since the death of our son in the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines crash,
we have been subjected to unspeakable disrespect, deceit and
discourtesy by Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines and Prof Adesanmi’s widow in
Ottawa. We want to place on record that neither Boeing, Ethiopian
Airlines nor Prof. Adesanmi’s widow Olumuyiwa Balogun has done right
by the family. We have not been called nor informed about the accident
till date.
We are shocked and totally distraught to explain to the world that in
regard to the shambolic burial in Ottawa on October 26, neither Mama
Lois Adesanmi nor 12-year old Dammy were contacted by either Boeing or
Ethiopian Airlines or Prof. Adesanmi’s surviving widow. Indeed since
our world crashed with Pius last March, nobody has deemed it fit to
officially contact his family in any official capacity.
It is obvious that, Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines and others working in
cahoots with whoever carried out this insult upon a grave injury when
it assented to this sham burial in Ottawa.
It is most disrespectful that the shambolic funeral in Ottawa was
deliberately organiSed to coincide with Mama Adesanm’s 78th birthday.
We refuse to believe that this was not done deliberately to maximise
the pain, the suffering and the agony of our matriarch. This was why,
Pius’s best friends refused to dishonour his remains by attending this
charade.
We remain resolute and would pursue our rights in law and in the
courts of public opinion. We are committed to not impugning the legacy
of our son by those who killed our joy and also purport to bury our
dignity with him in Ottawa.
