Cameroonian legend's family feuds over estate as world remembers fallen star
A sculpture of the late Cameroonian footballer Marc Vivien Foe at the entrance of his Complex covered by grass. PHOTO | NDI EUGENE NDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Tenants of a business centre building the footballer left in the central business district of the nation’s capital were shocked when they arrived and realized their offices and business places had been locked and heaps of gravel poured at the main entrance to obstruct anyone trying to gain accessing to the building.
- “I was stunned when I came and could not enter the building,” one of the tenants told local television channel, Equinoxe TV.
A prolonged family disagreement over inheritance overshadowed the 17th memorial anniversary of legendary Cameroonian midfielder, Marc Vivien Foe in the Cameroon capital, Yaounde last Friday.
The skillful Indomitable Lions midfielder collapsed a during a Fifa Confederations Cup semi-final match against Colombia on June 26, 2003 in Lyon, France and later died that day.
While fans and football community fondly worldwide remembered the wearer of the Indomitable Lion number 17 shirt, the family was feuding over his inheritance.
The deceased’s father, Martin Amougou Foe and widow, Marie-Loiuse Foe have been involved in a property squabble since the footballer’s death and the row showed it's ugly face again during the memorial.
Tenants of a business centre building the footballer left in the central business district of the nation’s capital were shocked when they arrived and realized their offices and business places had been locked and heaps of gravel poured at the main entrance to obstruct anyone trying to gain accessing to the building.
“I was stunned when I came and could not enter the building,” one of the tenants told local television channel, Equinoxe TV.
Marie-Louise who admitted reinforcing locks at the doors and pouring the gravel, said she is tired of her father-in-law enjoying her late husband’s legacy.
“I am fighting for the rights of my children. They had a father who died and left inheritance which they have to benefit from,” Marie-Loiuse. She accused her father-in-law of enjoying what is rightfully her children’s.
“I have a ruling of the Supreme Court that gives my children the right to all what their father left, but it has been very difficult for me to execute this decision,” she charged.
Foe’s father, who had earlier travelled to France, said his daughter in-law simply took advantage of his absence from Cameroon to create disorder.
“In fact, it has been almost five years that I have been in Europe to treat myself. As everyone knows, the death of Marc made me have a stroke. And on a memorial day, instead of being in meditation, Marie Louise went to pour gravel at the entrance of the building,” the senior Foe told Radio Sport Info.
He said that his son offered him the building before getting married to Marie-Louise.
“I have given my grandchildren (Foe’s children) the 3-storey building that Marc left me in the Nkomo neighbourhood of Yaounde as well as two villas located at the old airport still in Yaounde,” Amougou Foe explained.
Foe was given a state funeral in his homeland, Yaounde in the presence of top state officials including President Paul Biya and then FIFA president Sepp Blatter in July 2003.
