(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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