Tragedy struck Tuersday when the former President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Festus Iyayi, was killed in a ghastly motor accident.
The former ASUU president was said to be on his way to Kano with three other members of ASUU, University of Benin chapter, when the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a police escort vehicle in the convoy of the Kogi State Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, around Lokoja, the state capital.
Following the impact, the vehicle was knocked off the road and
somersaulted three times, killing the professor of Business
Administration instantly.
The unfortunate incident happened at Banda village yesterday when the
governor was returning from an official engagement in the Federal
Capital Territory, Abuja.
In a statement by Jacob Edi, Special Adviser to the Governor, Media,
the Kogi State Government said the convoy was moving at 80 kilometers
per hour when a bus collided with the escort vehicle.
The condition of Iyayi’s three other colleagues was also described as
critical at press time yesterday, as they were said to be in a coma.
The statement added that at least six victims with varying degrees of injuries from both sides are currently hospitalised,
Edi said Wada ordered a full-scale investigation into the accident, when he paid a visit to the injured.
An ambulance was said to have been dispatched from Benin to Kogi State to convey Iyayi's body to Benin.
Iyayi was part of the ASUU negotiating team, which met with the federal
government last week, and was travelling to Kano in continuation of
efforts to resolve the logjam that had ensued over the strike with his
colleagues, before his death.
His death yesterday threw ASUU and the University of Benin community into mourning.
