Prof. Festus Iyayi, a former leader of the ASUU in Nigeria, has died in a car accident. He was 66.
Iyayi’s death is tied into the ongoing negotiations between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities–he was on his way to the national congress in Kano, where the union is slated to end the months-long ASUU strike.
One of the police vehicles in a convoy of the Kogi state governor suddenly swerved into the path of the vehicle Iyayi was in, with witnesses telling the Osun Defender that Iyayi or whoever was driving his car swerved out of the way, somersaulting three times.
The other occupants of the car are in the hospital in critical condition.
Iyayi was with Dr. Anthony Monye-Emina, chairman of the University Benin branch of the ASUU–one of the branches that opposed ending the strike–and two other unidentified people.
Dr. Nasir Fagge, current president of the ASUU, expressed regret over the sad news.
“I cannot say anything right now. We have just lost one of our own, Festus Iyayi, who was very dear to us,” he said. “I am mourning.’’
Iyayi was president of the ASUU in 1986 but was detained later that year when the union was briefly banned.
