Yoruba World Congress (YWC) worldwide has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the alleged delay in the burial of Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, the man who designed the Nigerian flag.
Pa Akinkunmi died on August 21, 2023, and his remains are yet to be buried due to the promise made by the Federal Government to give him a befitting burial.
The delegation of the government was led by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris to the deceased’s family in Ibadan where Pa Akinkunmi lived until he breathed his last last year.
While pleading with President Tinubu in a leter signed by its Vice President, Engr Adekunle Ogundana, YWC stated that since the body of the deceased was deposited in a morgue since he died, the family has been paying the sum of N2,000 daily without any help coming from the FG or Oyo State government as earlier promised.
The letter read in part, “This open letter is for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to personally look into this issue as a matter of urgency. The designer of the flag of Nigeria Late Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi (OFR) (Mr Flag Man) died on August 21, 2023, and his body was deposited in a morgue at a location in Ibadan, Oyo State.”
The family claimed that “the Senate has asked the Federal Government to immortalize the designer of the Nigerian national flag, the late Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi. The motion was sponsored by Senator Sharafadeen Alli (APC, Oyo South) and seconded by Senator Sadiq Umar (APC, Kwara North), who noted that the late Pa Akinkunmi should be immortalised with a national honour”.
“The family of Pa Akinkunmi had planned the burial for December 7 and 8, 2023, but it was annulled by the Oyo State Government on the ground that there was no representation from the government to confirm the date chosen by the family.”
Vanguard gathered that a meeting was held on November 29, 2023 with the family of the deceased and the Oyo State House of Assembly where the Oyo State Government promised to pick a suitable date for the burial.
The new dates of April 10-12 2024 which the family of the deceased sent for the state burial of their late father has also lapsed and all attempts to get to the governor or his representatives have been futile.
“By this open letter, the Yoruba World Congress (YWC), UK, is calling on the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to urgently look into this matter so that the family can bury their dead and be pacified.
“Yoruba World Congress (YWC) is a socio-cultural organisation of Yoruba descent worldwide with the responsibility to promote, defend and achieve the collective growth and developmental aspirations and interests, prosperity, security, wellbeing, welfare and sustenance of Yoruba people and culture”, the letter read.
