The family of Sapele popular hotelier, Joseph Emekeme, popularly known as Semekolo who was allegedly beaten to death has denied the story describing it as false fabricating to the tarnish the image of the children and wife of the deceased.
It would be called that the stories of how two of his sons had beaten the late Semekolo to death had flooded the airspace with each report pointing to two of them as those responsible for his death after they were said to have caught him with another woman, however the family has debunked the story.
In a statement signed by one of the deceased children, Love Izu and made available to our correspondent, sounded a note of warning to all paid and unpaid reporters, bloggers, individuals and the entire public to cease from false information about their father whom they are grieving over his death caused by illness.
The press statement which was titled :”Deceased Sapele Hotelier Daughter Ambushed. Children and wife are scared for their lives because of the death of their father.(Joseph Emekeme)” said the sponsored of those falsehoods are doing it to tarnish the image of their mother and to allegedly take over their late father’s properties.
“After the unfortunate death of our beloved father, Joseph Emekeme a.k.a Semekolo, various media outlets portrayed that he was killed by his wife and Sons.
The false allegations were circulated by extended families to tarnish, harm and extinct the the immediate family members of the deceased which are the wife and children residing outside Nigeria.
“We, his children stand in solid unity and are here to dismiss and put an end to the lies circulating on the internet, by individuals and all media outlets. We urge and firmly warn all paid and unpaid reporters, bloggers, individuals and the entire public to cease from spreading false information about our father the patriarch of our family whom we are grieving over his death, our mother, the matriarch of our family, and our brothers.
“Our father had a struggle with diabetes, high sugar level and hypertension for the last 20 years. Lately, he suffered from Kidney disease. His earliest treatment of these illnesses started at Divine Care hospital – Sapele, Delta State and subsequently Kings County hospital – Brooklyn, New York, Lana hospital – Sapele, Delta State, Sandy Springs Family Medicine – Roswell, Georgia, Vascular Medical Associates – Alpharetta, Georgia, Village Podiatry – Acworth, Georgia, USA at different stages of his illnesses and was placed on medications by multiple doctors.
“The elder daughter of the deceased travelled back to Nigeria few days after the death of her father to make preparations for the funeral, on arrival at the village to meet the family members, she was ambushed and almost got killed by her father’s family.
She was able to escape and immediately returned back to the united states.
This false narrative, has become very dangerous to the children and wife of the late Mr Joseph Emekeme, as the general public has vowed to kill all the children if they set eyes on any one of the them as well as the wife.
She further said: “Photographs of the children were published alongside with the false story. Our father died due to health complications from chronic diabetes, resulting to kidney failure, heart attack and strokes.
“His condition worsened after his initial treatment from the United States where doctors advised him not to consume alcoholic beverages and take his medication religiously, if not his health will worsen and will lead to possible heart attacks and strokes.
“He stopped taking his medications after he left the United States November 2022. He suffered a stroke on April 2023 on his way back from work and was taken to the hospital where his case worsened and he suffered from numerous stroke.
“He was later referred to a more advanced medical equip hospital outside of his state residence to help with his condition.
“His wife (our mother) was in the United States for the birth of one of their granddaughter and to care for their daughter after birth, when she was informed about the sudden deterioration of her husband’s health condition, she flew back to Nigeria to be by the side of her husband till he passed on May 25th 2023.
“She was in the hospital for 41days, day in day out and never left his side.
Our daddy’s extended families which he has been estranged with for years saw this as a great opportunity to get rid of the wife and children in order to get away with the investments and properties of the deceased.
“Our beloved Daddy joined his Maker on the 25th of May, 2023 at UBTH and is resting with God. We demand that you stop forthwith the negative allegations, defamation of character of our mother and brothers that is being put up on the blogs and the public because they are untrue and our Daddy deserves to be remembered for the loving Husband, Father and Grandfather that he was”, the statement concluded.
“The remains of the deceased was planned to be kidnapped by the family, but their evil plans were exposed, this Godforsaken act was planned by the deceased family, so as to be in line with what the falsely told the authorities above.
“The wife is being protected by the authorities pending the arrangements for the funeral and will be returning back to the United States to join children for fear of not being attacked.
