₦airaland Forum

Romelu Lukaku, Brother Explain Why They Cannot Be at Father’s Funeral

Romelu Lukaku and his brother Jordan have announced that they will not attend the funeral of their late father, Roger.

Their beloved dad passed away in the DR Congo capital of Kinshasa, and efforts to repatriate his body to Europe have been futile.

Romelu and his brother were born in Antwerp, Belgium, to Congolese parents, but the pair opted to play for the European nation.

On the other hand, their father played as a striker for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and spent most of his career in Belgium at various clubs until his retirement in 2007, according to Football Italia.

Roger died in Congo at the age of 58, and his sons have alleged extortion in a bid to bring back his body for burial.

In a joint statement on social media, the Napoli striker and his brother expressed heartbreak that they would not be in attendance when their father is laid to rest.

It reads via Instagram: "As you may know we planned to have the funeral this Friday but because of certain decisions being made in Kinshasa will the funeral take place over there.

"Our dad passed away on the 28 of September and we as Brothers tried everything to bring his corpse back to Europe but we felt that we were being extorted by some people.

If our father was here today he wouldn’t accept it. It breaks our soul for us to not put our father to rest. But some people didn’t want it.

We understand know why our dad used to keep us away from a lot of people. God bless your soul."

Nothing to say. I don't know who to blame.... What could have killed the man at just 58? He was based in Belgium most of his life, how did he end.up dying in Congo? And for the young men, the body can not be sent to Belgium for burial. People bring bodies back to Africa for burial, people don't take African bodies out of Africa for burial.

Waste of sons. They wanted to repatriate an African man's corpse to Europe for burial in Belgium of all places.

Read up on the atrocities of Belgium in the Congo.

Excuses!!! They should fly to Congo DR and attend the burial. It's once in a lifetime thing.

Never knew he is Congolese............

Not sure of what led to their father's death but they clearly stated that "If our father was here today, he wouldn't accept it's and also said 'WE now understand why our father keep us away from a lot of people". That shows they actually want to bury their Dad against his wish.


Their dad spent most of his life in Belgium but died in Congo @58, something is not right and it's like they want to harm his kids if they show up at his burial. This is Africa and DR Congo also get and believe in Juju.

It is said that the eastern part of the country (DR Congo) is in the grip of a severe and long-running conflict. Fighting has dramatically escalated in 2025, displacing millions and causing a major humanitarian.


I'll b scared if i was them too.

But they should allow the man to be buried in Africa and not Europe.

Artiiclebeast:
Waste of sons. They wanted to repatriate an African man's corpse to Europe for burial in Belgium of all places.

Read up on the atrocities of Belgium in the Congo.

Same Belgium king leopold that killed millions of Congolese just for fun.