Festus Iyayi, a University of Benin (UNIBEN)
professor, writer and rights activist, is dead.
The unionist died yesterday in an accident
involving the convoy of Kogi State Governor
Idris Wada. He was 66.
The President of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) between 1986 and 1988
was in a three-vehicle lecturers’ party travelling
to Abuja enroute Kano.
The accident occurred at about 11am at Banda
village on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.
The lecturers were heading for Kano for today’s
National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of
ASUU where a vote on whether to end the on-
going university teachers’ strike or not is to be
taken.
Wada was travelling in the opposite direction.
He was returning from Abuja after an
engagement in the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT).
This is Wada convoy’s second fatal crash in
one year.
On December 28, last year, his convoy crashed
on its way to Lokoja from Ayingba, Kogi State.
Wada’s Aide-de-Camp (ADC) died on the spot.
The governor’s leg was broken. Other officials
suffered varying degrees of injuries.
ASUU’s National Welfare Secretary and Head of
UNIBEN’s Foreign Language department, Dr.
Ngozi Iloh is injured. She was unconsciou.
UNIBEN ASUU Chair Dr. Tony Moye-Emina and
the bus driver were also injured.
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Kogi State
Sector Command Mr. Olakunle Motajo said
preliminary investigation revealed that there
was wrongful overtaken by the governor’s
convoy. He said investigation had started.
Iyayi’s body, according to Motajo, had been
deposited at the Kogi State Specialist
Hospital’s morgue. The injured are also
receiving treatment in the hospital.
ASUU President Nasir Fagge describe Iyayi’s
death tragic.
A member of ASUU, Dr. Sunday Abada, in the
ill-fated ASUU delegation, recalled how the
accident occurred.
Speaking to our correspondent on the
telephone yesterday, he said:
“About 15 union members from various
institutions, moving in a three-vehicle convoy,
were on their way to Kano to participate in the
NEC meeting scheduled to hold in Bayero
University, Kano (BUK) today.
Abada, a senior lecturer of Political Science at
the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said:
“We were on our way to Kano State for our NEC
meeting holding tomorrow (today) when a
vehicle in the convoy of Governor Idris Wada on
full speed left its lane and collided with the
vehicle conveying our members along the
Abuja-Lokoja Expressway. Prof Iyayi died on
the spot.
“It was later, at 4pm, the govenror led a group
of reporters to the Specialist Hospital where the
remains of Iyayi are deposited. We had to
chase him away because we discovered that he
was trying to politicise the incident. But I can
confirm to you that only Iyayi died in the
accident; the other victims are receiving
treatment at the Specialist Hospital.”
Abada said today’s NEC meeting could be put
off because “ASUU is very interested in the
welfare of its members”. He said the
recklessness of drivers attached to Wada’s
convoy could prolong the strike, noting that the
lecturers stuck to all road safety measures as
they drove on the highway.
Injured Monye-Emina, who spoke to our
reporter in a soft voice, said the governor’s
convoy was on full speed. “The governor’s
vehicle left its lane and rammed into our union
vehicle. The impact made our bus to
somersault several times. It was by the grace of
God that I survived but we lost Prof Iyayi and I
learnt Dr Iloh is critically injured,” he said.
The Kogi State Government, in a statement on
the incident said the governor’s convoy was
“on a speed of 80 kilometers per hour when a
bus collided with the escort van”. “Sadly, in the
storm, it was discovered that a renowned
academic and respected human rights
advocate, Prof. Festus Iyayi, who was in the
other vehicle, died in the accident. There were
other victims with varying degrees of injuries
from both sides.
“The victims were immediately evacuated to
the State Specialist Hospital in Lokoja on the
governor’s directive. The injured are responding
to treatment.
“The Governor has ordered full scale
investigation into the matter and paid a visit to
the injured. Capt. Wada sympathised with the
victims and their families. He wished the
deceased a peaceful repose of his soul.”
Lagos Lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) said last
night that he would push for the prosecution of
the driver who drove the governor’s convoy’s
vehicle.
But, he stressed that the Nigerian state killed
Iyayi. “The trip would not have been necessary,
if the President did not wait till now to resolve
the ASUU matter. If the train had been working,
may be they would have gone by train,” Falan
said.
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