Among his several heart’s desires, the late High Chief Lulu Briggs must have prayed to be survived by children who would give him a befitting burial when he breathed his last.
But that prayer has yet to be answered, as the founder of Moni Pulo Limited is yet to be buried by his family, since he passed on, in a very controversial circumstance, in Ghana at the age of 89 in December 2018.
Instead of coming together to carry out his most cherished wish, the once happy family has been bogged down by an unresolved disagreement, which has so far made a big mess of the burial plans at different times.
At the onset of the crisis, which began shortly after the death of the Rivers State-born oil magnate and politician, not many thought it would drag this long.
But trouble started for the dead when the Oruwari Briggs House of Abonnema had sponsored an advertorial published on May 23, 2019, where it said, among other disquieting claims, that “we do not know if High Chief O.B Lulu Briggs is dead or alive.”
In the said advertorial, it was pointed out that since his wife, Chief Seinye Lulu Briggs travelled with him to Ghana five months before his death, they did not set their eyes on him. So, they pooh-poohed the reports of his death. To them, there is no concrete proof that the patriarch of the Lulu family is truly dead.
The sponsors of the advertorial, unapologetically, also premised their claim on the fact that the rumours of his death amount to a violation of the Kalabari culture and tradition.
Also, the rift between one of the sons of the deceased, Dumo, and his stepmom, Seinye Lulu Briggs, is also allegedly responsible for the delay in the burial of the patriarch of the family.
But a source revealed to Society Watch that the war tearing the family apart is not unconnected to the assets left behind by the deceased, which are allegedly in the hand of his widow.
It will be recalled that his wife, Seinye, had also filed a certiorari application before the Supreme Court in Accra, but the apex court declined her application for an injunction to stop the Ghana Police and the Transition Funeral Home from releasing the remains of her husband to the family.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Daniel Mensah, the court declined Seinye’s application, and also ordered the family led by Dumo to take custody of the corpse to transport it to his hometown.
With the judgment, many had thought the family would come together to bury him without any further delay, but the story seems not to have changed in any way, almost 24 months after.
Consequently, tongues have begun to wag over the delay in the burial of the late respected businessman.
