and writer, Prof. Festus Iyayi, who died
in a road accident on Tuesday, was a
committed promoter of a just social
system
Death hit the Nigerian academia and the
literati hard on Tuesday as non-
conformist scholar and writer, Prof.
Festus Iyayi, passed away in a road
accident.
The death of the one-time president of
the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian
Universities and winner of the
Commonwealth Writers Prize occurred
about seven months after the country
lost another legendary writer, Prof.
Chinua Achebe.
While it had also lost some other writers
– including Larinde Akinleye and Femi
Fatoba – and many other people in road
crashes, the violent circumstance of
Iyayi's death may also remind followers
of African literature of that of Ghanaian
writer Kofi Awonoor-Williams, who was
killed in Kenya by terrorists in
September this year.
But what many would find instructive is
the fact that Iyayi died in the course of
prosecuting the battle in which ASUU
has engaged the Federal Government,
fighting for the revitalisation of the
university system, in the past four
months. He was on his way to Kano,
alongside other members, where they
wanted to attend a congress that would
take a decision on the possibility of
calling off the ASUU strike.
People who believe in the prophetic
power of writers may thus find cause
to, in retrospection, attach more
importance to one of the popular
statements from Iyayi's novel, Heroes
— "… those who carry the cross for
society always get crucified in the end
…"
Yet, the fact that the bus that Iyayi and
co. were said to have been hit by a car
in the convoy of Kogi State Governor,
Idris Wada, has compounded the anger
and frustration of many Nigerians who
are lucky enough to be living – and not
dead – witnesses to the recklessness
that convoys of many political office
holders display.
Reacting to the news of Iyayi's death,
the President of the Association of
Nigerian Authors, Prof. Remi Raji, says
the development is a sad commentary
on not just the contradictions in the
country's educational system but also
manifestations of political recklessness.
Raji says, "That Prof. Iyayi's death is
linked to the recklessness of the convoy
of a governor once again shows the
irresponsibility of many political office
holders. We have talked about it many
times. It is about what I call siren
senselessness. You have to clear the
way because somebody is going to buy
yam for a governor's wife."
Meanwhile, while Raji notes that Iyayi's
portrayal of bourgeoisie characters
gripped his imagination as a university
student, other stakeholders have paid
tributes to the deceased. Poet and
critic, Odia Ofeimun, says Iyayi was a
man "who should not be dead."
According to Ofeimun, he was a good
person who never betrayed the people
he stood by.
He adds, "Festus Iyayi saw life as a
struggle. He believed that those who
struggle must stand by their own. This
is part of what defined his relationship
with ASUU. Whether he lost his job or
jailed for the cause of ASUU, he stood
by the union all through. The last time I
saw him, it was on the television. That
was when the lecturers were
demonstrating in Benin. He was with
them in his academic gown."
Ofeimun says Iyayi also remained a
committed writer till death. He notes
that although social struggle ate deep
into his time, he kept writing, to the
point that he had works he had not
published.
"When it mattered to talk about
commitment in literature, Iyayi wrote
sensible literature, something sensible
to anyone who believes he should not
be afraid of his belief," he explains.
Similarly, a Senior Lecturer at the
Department of English, Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Dr. Chijioke
Uwasoba, describes Iyayi as a great man
in the field of literature, while US-based
scholar and writer, Prof. Okey Ndibe,
says Iyayi was one of the most "intrepid
social voices" the country has ever
produced.
Born in Edo State in 1947, Iyayi's family
is said to have lived on little means but
instilled in him strong moral lessons
about life. According to a profile, he
started his education at Annuciation
Catholic College in the old Bendel State
popularly known as ACC, finishing in
1966, and later proceeded to
Government College Ughelli. He was a
zonal winner in a Kenedy Essay
Competition organised by the United
States Embassy in Nigeria. He left the
shores of Nigeria to pursue his higher
education, obtaining a M.Sc in Industrial
Economics from the Kiev Institute of
Economics, in the former USSR and then
his Ph.D from the University of
Bradford, England. In 1980, he went
back to Benin and became a lecturer in
the Department of Business
Administration at the University of
Benin.
A reviewer, Susie deVille, writes that
Iyayi's three novels, Violence, The
Contract, and Heroes, as well as his
collection of short stories, Awaiting
Court Martial, expose the abject penury
and disenfranchisement that constitute
the social reality of the majority of
Nigerians.
"In language that is often vitriolic and
stinging, Iyayi's protagonists potently
display his contempt for the rampant
corruption that strangles contemporary
Nigeria. Business persons, politicians,
generals, and other officials hoard the
country's wealth and power at the
expense of the working class. This base
depravity of the ruling class," deVille
says.
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