Many, who buried their loved ones at the Ikoyi Vaults and Garden, Lagos, did so, because they wanted a final resting place for their departed family members or friends devoid of negative and contentious narratives coming out of public cemeteries. Surprisingly, what drove them to Ikoyi Vaults and Garden is about rearing its ugly heads, as the property in which their loved ones were buried is now under receivership because of debt.
Despite paying huge sums of money for a final resting place for their loved one, they are now left in the dark with no adequate information. A situation, our correspondent gathered, has left many families with sleepless night as to what will happen to the remains of their family members interred in the place.
Yet Ikoyi Vaults and Garden is the go to place for the wealthy in the society. Prominent Nigerians buried at the cemetery include, Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, Tayo Aderinokun (former GTBank boss), Tunji Okusanya, and Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, among many others.
Of note is that Ikoyi Vaults and Gardens claimed it is the foremost rest haven for dearly departed relatives, friends and loved ones, providing peace of mind for their resting place. It provides its service in a cynosure of excellence, presented in a serene, amiable and secure environment.
Sharing her experience after visiting Ikoyi Vaults and Gardens, Therese Nweke, a veteran journalist, whose husband was buried in the cemetery, said when she tried visiting his grave, she was welcomed by a notice placed at the entrance of the vaults and garden that the property is under receivership.
“I wasn’t allowed into the cemetery unless I contacted the receiver/manager who would then inform the security personnel to allow me to visit the grave,” she said.
Nweke noted that probably because it was a Sunday, all the calls to the receiver/manager office were met with recorded messages.
“As I was about to leave, the head of the security called his second and kindly permitted me to enter with my driver. He explained that he knew who I was as I often frequented the grave, but hadn’t seen me for over a year.”
She observed as she walked in that the flowers, grass, walkways and everywhere was overgrown and untended.
According to her, she learnt this was because the gardeners and other workers had been sacked.
Nweke also gathered that only those who had already purchased graves a long time ago were still permitted to bury their dead and summarily leave.
“But the practice of arriving to visit loved relatives now deceased to put flowers on their graves or to mourn them had ended, except with the express permission of the receiver.”
Nweke said six thoughts flashed through her mind after she left her husband’s grave. “That nothing in Nigeria — no matter how good, well planned, executed and seemingly foolproof — works and lasts. Nothing and no one is off limits.
“This rather exclusive and expensive cemetery was opened by President Bola Tinubu in 2005, when he was governor of Lagos State. The cost of a single grave, depending on its location in this cemetery, starts from N12 million and a mausoleum is around N90 million. To acquire a lane in the name of a deceased person costs around N250,000. So, even the family of Lateef Jakande, a former governor of Lagos, who was buried there, will be subject to the same rules as I was who needed to access the cemetery.
“In this cemetery are mausoleums owned by Tinubu, Fashola, Jakande, Adenuga, Aig-Imoukhuede, Okoya-Thomas etc. where their closest family members were interred and may be eventually buried as Jakande was.
“A cursory look around the expansive, well planned, tree lined, flower filled and beautiful cemetery, one sees the inscriptions on the graves of Nigerian judges, captains of industry, their wives, noted academics, illustrious professionals and many members of the Lagos elite.”
Nweke argued that even if it is under receivership, why can’t the grounds of the cemetery still be maintained?
“So, if the President wants to visit the mausoleum where his mother and his eldest son are interred, he has to pass through unkempt paved walkways and bush to their graves, caked with dust and dirt, and with inscriptions barely discernible because of grime?
“It is bad enough, that all of Nigeria’s public cemeteries are in a very bad shape, with some corpses dug up even a few days after burial by evil and rapacious people who buy and sell body parts for ritual purposes. Even the bones of those long dead are illegally removed to be used in concoctions patronised by drug addicts.
“And, that’s why some anxious Nigerians had to disinter the bodies of their relatives in the old Ikoyi Cemetery, which is very badly kept to re-bury them for considerable sums of money in the privately owned Ikoyi Vaults and Gardens and the nearby Ebony Cemetery. As in life, so in death, the dead in Nigeria do not rest in peace!”
Nweke disclosed that reason she supported her husband being buried at the Ikoyi Vaults and Garden rather than Ebony Cemetery, which is slightly cheaper, was because it was much smaller and had a cosier feel, aside from that, Ebony Cemetery was in court.
She further said in one of her visits to the cemetery just before she travelled abroad, she saw the main owner of the cemetery with a battalion of policemen and soldiers arriving the cemetery in a convoy to his well and tastefully appointed office complex situated at the entrance to the cemetery.
“He arrived with sirens and flashing lights. That’s the style of ‘big men’ in Nigeria, whether they are politicians or just fraudulent business moguls.
“To afford this kind of security you must have money, and aspire to being someone possessing contacts and clout. Now we are seeing that like the emperor in the old tale, he possessed no clothes, and is seen to be naked!”
When our correspondent called one of the phone lines on Ikoyi Vaults and Garden website, Mr. Tope Kolawole, who picked the call, said that access is not restricted for whoever that wants to go in the vaults and garden for visit.
He claimed he was at the vaults and garden on Friday and people were going in and out on visit into the cemetery.
According to him, the visitor should have called him or the numbers provided by the receivership company when she got there and was being denied access.
Kolawole, nonetheless, maintained that though his company is having an issue with one of its partners over the property, but it hopes it sort out very, very soon.
– The Guardian
