ASUU suspends NEC meeting, strike continues

Mourns Iyayi, family takes body home

GRIPPED by grief, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Wednesday suspended its emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting billed to hold at Bayero University, Kano.

The emergency meeting had been scheduled to decide the final position of ASUU on its four-month-old strike. The meeting could have determined whether or not the industrial action would be suspended.

ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, told journalists that the meeting had been suspended due to the death of Iyayi on his way to the NEC meeting.

“As you can see, everyone here is not in the right frame of mind. I may not be able to tell you anything on the next line of action. Whether the meeting would still hold or not, we have not decided. It is a great loss to us,” he said.

Some students who were eager to see the end of the strike were at the venue of the meeting.

While describing the death of the former ASUU President as a great loss to the academic community, a student, named Sani Yusuf Daho, regretted that it happened when the professor was needed the most in the struggle to salvage university education from total collapse.

“We are aware of the role he played in this face-off between ASUU and the Federal Government. He died when his struggle was about to produce fruits. As students of higher education in this country, we will continue to mourn him for what he fought and stood for,” Daho maintained.

Another student, Musa Aminu, expressed fear over the suspension of the NEC meeting. “Honestly, I am sad. The suspension may affect the quick action of ASUU again. You can imagine we have waited too long at home,” he said.

But a student, who identified himself as Abubakar Haruna, said ASUU could have declared days of mourning instead of suspending the meeting indefinitely.

It was learnt that a strong delegation was appointed to go to Benin and condole with the family and other associates of the late professor.

It was reported that many chapters of ASUU were in support of calling off the strike.

A close source told journalists that many of the lecturers that attended the cancelled meeting broke into tears over the loss of their great colleague and a pillar in the academic community.

The Chief Medical Director of Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Dr. Paul Amodu, told journalists in Lokoja that the body of the late former ASUU president was released to his immediate younger brother who is an employee of the Federal University, Lokoja.

He said that from the examination of the body of Iyayi, it was discovered that a sharp object pierced through his left side directly to his heart leading to his instant death.

Amodu equally said that the National Welfare Officer of ASUU, Dr. Ngozi Ilo, had a minor injury on her leg and it was treated and placed on POP. He stressed that the driver of the bus also sustained a minor injury and was treated and discharged immediately.

On the alleged speculation that the late ASUU chieftain and other victims were not treated immediately the accident occurred, he said that the medical doctor attached to the governor’s convoy was at the scene where he provided first aid treatment.

He added that the Kogi State Government House ambulance was used to evacuate the victims to the state specialist hospital.

Meanwhile, the state command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has commenced an investigation to unravel the cause of the accident and how to prevent further crashes on highways.

A commander of the agency, Mr. Olakunle Motajo, noted yesterday that an investigative team was now working to unravel what actually caused the accident, stressing that a report would be ready before the end of the week