IYAYI WAS MURDERED BY THE GOVERNMENT - LAWYER

SOURCE: PM NEWS


Human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu has declared that former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof. Festus Iyayi, who died Tuesday in an...
accident in Lokoja was murdered.
Aturu in a statement made available to P.M.NEWS Wednesday, said Iyayi
was "gruesomely murdered not killed by a yet to be identified assassin
in the employ of the Government of Kogi State. This is the only
reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the facts that are now
available in the public domain.
"The story is that while travelling along Lokoja-Abuja road in the
company of his ASUU comrades on their way to Kano to discuss the way
forward in respect of the ongoing strike, an escort car in the convoy
of the Governor of Kogi State, Mr Idris Wada, rammed into the ASUU bus
killing our beloved comrade and wounding, hopefully not fatally, some
other lecturers.
"It is difficult to accept the wasting of one of Africa's most
cerebral and committed scholars by a reckless driver who probably
assumed that because he was 'privileged' to be in a governor's convoy
he was above traffic regulations and other users of the road,
including even his intellectual superiors.
"The murder of Comrade Iyayi is no doubt a product of the empty
pomposity that pervades the corridors of power in Nigeria, from the
Governors to their cooks. This pomposity is seen in a culture of
impunity and recklessness that gives them the sense that they own our
lives, and all that belongs to this country. This is the only way one
can understand why they expect all other road users to disappear from
the road whenever they ply the roads."
Aturu, who betrayed his rage at the sudden passing of the renowned
scholar, added that "the madness of reckless killings on our roads by
those who occupy government houses must stop. The only way to end it
is to insist, as some of our comrades are suggesting, that the
murderer in Kogi Government House or its boy's quarters must be
produced and prosecuted for manslaughter.
"It is a shame that it appears that the governor of that state lacks
the capacity to prevent his drivers from reckless and senseless
driving, otherwise his convoy should not have been involved in another
accident so soon after the tragic accident that claimed the life of
his ADC just in December 2012. It may well be that his drivers expect
that the only way they can please a former pilot, that he is, is to
literally fly on the road. Whatever the case may be, the governor is
vicariously liable for the murder of one of the heroes of the Nigerian
struggle against impunity. He too will be made to pay one way or the
other. Some of us will be willing to pursue this matter to a logical
conclusion.
"Our continent, nay the world, has lost one of the most passionate
believers in social justice and equity. He was one of the most honest
and dependable allies. We have lost a dogged advocate of decency and
consummate teacher. It is indeed an irony that a man who spent his
entire life campaigning against impunity should be murdered so
recklessly."