Until he died on Sunday 26th April 2020, Dr. Joseph Ademola Olutosin Ajayi was a popular Lagos doctor. He was the Founder of First Foundation hospital.
The big news is that the remains of this popular and well-loved Lagos Doctor was interred last Thursday 11th February 2021 at the Ebony Vaults, James George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, amidst controversy, after having been in the morgue for 9 months due to many controversies. And the burial was attended by Oluwayemisi Ajayi, his legally married wife and her 5 kids. Also, in attendance was beauty queen, Helen Prest, who though had lived with him for 25 years, till his death last year was not legally married to him. His death revealed a lot about Dr Ajayi’s relationship with Helen Prest.
City People can also reveal that a lot of drama happened during the burial, the video of which has gone rival on social media. The drama was mainly between his 1st wife and her kids, on one side and Helen Prest on the other. Over the years, there has been no love lost between the two parties. Family members reveal that though late Dr. Ajayi and his legally married wife Oluwayemisi had lived separate lives, they were not divorced.
As the story goes, a few years back he began to live with Helen Prest, who till his death was not legally married to him, going by family accounts and exchange of letters between them.
City People Magazine, which was one of the media houses which covered the burial, noticed the palpable tension right from the Morgue of LASUTH in Ikeja where the doctor’s body has been since he died on Sunday 26th April 2020. As the body left LASUTH for Ebony Vaults in Ikoyi there was a big battle along the way, as Helen Prest insisted that she was the wife of the deceased, so her car had to be right behind the Hearse carrying the body in the convoy. But the kids of the deceased denied her that role since, according to them, she wasn’t legally married to their dad. So, they insisted that the car in which the deceased’s eldest child was in should be right behind the Hearse. It was drama galore, as their cars jostled for space. At a point, the convoy had to stop. As if that was not enough, the drama continued at the Ebony Vault, Ikoyi where a Special Service was organised by Shepherdhill Baptist Church (Sanctuary of Grace & Glory) of Baptist Academy Compound, Obanikoro, along Ikorodu Road, Lagos and TRINITY House, located at Zion Center, Water Corporation Drive, Off Ligali Ayomide Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
4 Officiating Ministers took charge at the Service. They are (1) Rev. Dr. Israel Kristilere (Senior Pastor, Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro, Lagos); (2) Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Akinyemi (Minister of Music & Worship, Shepherdhill B.C Obanikoro, Lagos); (3) Pastor Kayode Pitan (Senior Pastor, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Tabernacle Of David, Ajah, Lagos; (4) Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, (Senior Pastor, Trinity House, Victoria Island, Lagos. They played key roles during the service.
After the remains of the deceased had been lowered there was tension again as Helen Prest collected the Shovel and wanted to pour sand on the corpse after Dr. Ajayi’s wife, but the family rejected the move, insisting that Helen Prest was not their father’s wife and that it should be their mum who was meant to play that role, to be followed by his eldest child.
It took the timely intervention of one of the Officiating ministers, Revd. Dr. Israel Kristilene, the Senior Pastor Shepherd Hill Baptist Church to douse the tension. He conducted the committal to mother earth. City People watched how they practically had to seize the shovel from her, after which all the children took their turns. Helen Prest didn’t feel happy with this development. She was there with her 2 daughters, from her previous marriage and they wore white with her 3rd daughter which she has for late Dr. Ajayi.
City People gathered that the battle between Helen Prest and the 1st wife of the deceased and her children has been an age-long one. This is because since Dr. Ajayi moved on to live a separate life with Helen Prest who used to be married to Jimmy Davies, who he has her 2 daughters,for he has also maintained his subsisting marriage to his legally married wife and he had continued to maintain she and her kids. Over the years, the stupendously rich medical doctor had been attending all the functions which his wife held and all the weddings of his children, whilst at the same time taking good care of Helen Prest and her children.
Late Dr. Ajayi is blessed with 5 accomplished children who live in Nigeria, the USA, and the UK. They are (1) Mrs. Tomi Deru (nee Ajayi) BSc, MS, M.Sc. She is an Information Systems Analyst & Web Developer in New York, U.S.A (2) Dr. Olumide Ajayi, B.Sc. MD, Family Medicine Physician in Atlanta George, USA (3) Mrs. Molade Soetan (nee Ajayi) BSc, MSc, Banker, Lagos Nigeria (4) Dr. Mayowa Okeowo (nee Ajayi) LLB, LLM, Mres, Phd Early Childhood Development Specialist, Lagos, Nigeria and (5) Dr. Bisola Ajayi, E Eng., MD Trauma & Orthopedics, London, UK.
The battle between the Wife/Children of late Dr. Ajayi and Helen Prest became intense 9 months ago when Dr. Ajayi died suddenly. The family was angry that Helen did not promptly inform them that their dad was dead, on time. And that they later got to know through one of their uncles.
They are also angry that Helen Prest had over the years had added Ajayi to her surname despite not being officially married to their dad. That was why they rebuffed all attempts made by Helen Prest to present herself as the official wife of Dr. Ajayi since his death.
They quarreled with her for presenting herself as his wife when she went to deposit the body at the morgue. They see the relationship that existed between their dad and Helen Prest as a simple business transaction. According to one of them, she was more like an Escort. “We have documents, papers, and exchange of letters to show that in his lifetime Helen Prest put pressure on their dad to marry her legally which he didn’t do, but chose to maintain his subsisting marriage to our mum.”
After his death, to enable the family bury Dr. Ajayi, both parties had to come to some sort of peaceful resolution which eventually led to his burial last Thursday.
The burial ceremony at the Ebony Vaults in Ikoyi was well attended by eminent Nigerians who his wife and kids had invited. Former Lagos Speaker, Senator Mamora was in attendance. He is a brother in law to late Dr. Ajayi.
