THE University of Benin yesterday stood still in honour of former President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Late Prof. Festus Iyayi as it declared the Late Don irreplaceable.

Late Iyayi’s journey home ward began with a stop-over at his Isihor country home, accompanied by ASUU members, to enable his family members and ASUU members have a close look at his remains.

This came as one of the officiating Priests at the lying- in state ceremony held at the Akin Deko Main Auditorium in honour of the former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Festus Iyayi drew the ire of a cross-section of members of the academic community, civil society organizations when in his homily, he appealed to ASUU to suspend their six months old strike.
From left: Engr. Ehidiamen Iyayi, Mrs. Grace Iyayi (Widow), Mr. Omole Iyayi, Barr. Oriabure Iyayi and Barr. Omoye Zindzi Iyayi.

At about 9.35am, his body was carried by pall bearers into a waiting hearse with registration number FG 63-U50 while his wife, Mrs. Grace Iyayi was conveyed in a black Toyota Prado SUV with registration number NUC 07U-37 FG, followed by ASUU, CDHR representatives and close associates in a long motorcade to the UNIBEN Ugbowo Campus.

On arrival at UNIBEN, his remains was conveyed to the Faculty of Management Sciences, where he was the HOD, Business Administration till he died. At the Faculty, Academics decked in academic gowns formed a guard of honour while the Dean of the faculty, Prof. Famous Izedonmi delivered a brief oration. In the same vein, Prof. P. Eriki rendered heart touching prayers before the body was taken to the University main auditorium.

The remains of Iyayi was received by a mammoth crowd of ASUU members and UNIBEN management led by Prof. G. Oshodin and immediately, a commendation service began.

The auditorium which overflowed into canopies was a congregation of academic intellectuals from all the universities across the country.

In his opening oration, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, ASUU President said Iyayi’s death came as a rude shock to the academic union with no one having a premonition of the sudden death.

His words, “With a heavy heart, I read this tribute. The death of our Comrade came to us as a rude shock because we had no premonition of it. He was full of life, having just partaken in a congress the day before.

On his part, the Vice Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof Oshodin stated that the death of Iyayi has left a void that cannot be filled because Iyayi chosed a part of forthrightness and excellence which made him to beg Iyayi to become HOD while others were lobbying for it.

According to him, “Life is not about how long we live but how well we live. His life was characterised with hardwork, excellence and forthrightness. He came to this world unannounced but he is leaving with a loud ovation.

More so one of the officiating Priests at the lying- in state ceremony held at the Akin Deko Main Auditorium in honour of the former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Festus Iyayi drew the ire of a cross-section of members of the academic community, civil society organizations when in his homily, he appealed to ASUU to suspend their six months old strike.

Rev. Fr. Andrew Obiyan, who was booed during the homily ceremony, which was attended by a large number of people said many of the lecturers were already wary of the “fight.”

Reading from portions of the Bible, Obiyan praised Iyayi’s tenacity of purpose, courage and sense of dedication to duty, all of which he said contributed to the “hero” he became, both in life and in death and appealed to ASUU members to consider their position in order not to continue at the receiving end.

He said, “The death of the faithful is precious in the eyes of God, so I want to admonish the family not to think of the pain of death, but think about the bright promise of immortality.

“Finally, I want to thank God because (ASUU) has become the voice of the voiceless today. May that voice never die; but I want to remind you that there is no success without sacrifice. For Jesus to gain the whole world, he had to give up his life.

Speaking with journalists at the end of the ceremony, ASUU President, Dr Nasri Fagge said reaction from the crowd was enough attestation to the mood of majority of union members on the matter.

He said, “We were told here at this gathering there were some fundamental issues that bother the mind of our late comrade, as to the future of the struggle. For me, it is left for us to rally around those ideals and advance his legacies. You saw the reaction of the crowd to what was said about suspending the struggle, and that to me said it all.”
Source: BLOG

So faggie in essense you guys are not ready to call off the strike?

I thought their demands had been met or what else do we not know?

ASUU chairman Esut chapter who was inconsiderately against calling off of d strike died lately in d struggle also, ASUU ppl shud be very careful.
Dey re recieving more curse dan blessings.

The priest NEVER said anything wrong.ASUU as a unioun,claim to be fighting for students yet,in spite of the proof of the FG that they have paid the 200billion for the upgrade of our skuls ,yet they still keep students and parents in the dark..Something is fishing somewhere.You can't easily solve a problem that began in 1975 when "Gen.Murtala" collected our REGIONAL varsities,made them FEDEARL and UNDER-FUNDED.It's high time this strike is suspended.Since FG said they have now paid d money,what next ASUU?U still wanna punish students??Hell No..We won't take that..!!!

Why the booing? The truth, they say, is bitter.

Btw, beware of friends who will remove charger from your 5% battery to charge their 95% battery ...they are dangerous.

I understand our sentimentality (I'm a student too) but see, the federal govt can't be trusted. When Doyin Okupe was talking on Channels, it was obvious the man was not telling the truth in some areas. Its very simple, you say you have opened a formal account with CBN. Notify ASUU (not in the news) and let there be a signed memorandum signed by the Attorney General (ASUU is not dumb), who owns CBN. Then the agreement on salaries. Period. You can't expect ASUU to call off the strike of 5 months based on word of mouth of Doyin Okupe of all people.

It has now become blindingly obvious that ASUU members are
vapid and show dearth of reasoning and commensurate
actions. They are everything but intellects. Their
all-or-nothing stand in a negotiation is pure idiocy and grandstanding. The
Reverend Father gave a very apposite appeal in the present situation as ASUU have no
legitimate reason to continue with the protracted
strike a day longer except that they are pursuing a
subversive agenda with strong political undertone.
Their take that the non victimisation clause has
to be appended and signed is laughable because
I expect the erudite ASUU members to know
that even if inserted and signed, it doesn't
stop any of their members from being
victimized through set ups and other means if
anyone so desired. Beside, previous ASUU chairmen and members have held lofty position with FG without any form of victimization.
Also, requesting for proof of the funds in the treasury of
CBN is to say the least stupidity typified. I make bold to say this because if the FG is not
sincere, the funds might well be in the account but
can be channeled for other purposes with time.
The truth remains that ASUU is acting in bad faith
else it ought to call off or is it suspend the strike
wait for the next six months to monitor progress
regarding infrastructure upgrade in the institutions
as well as if there are attempts to victimize its
members.
At the rate they are going they might as well wait
until the infrastructures are upgraded to world
class standard before they call off the strike.
Finally a major ingredient towards making our
universities world class, the input of ASUU
members, has been lost in the din and not being
discussed at all. Maybe government is also
responsible for ASUU members not constantly
updating their knowledge, trading marks for sex/
money, not being engaged in meaningful research,
not being serious with service delivery regarding
teaching and other vices they are known to be
engaged in..
I tell you most of ASUU members ought not to be in
the academia

Space reserved am coming back!

the government is not sincere. Opening of account is just like buying a SIM card....buy card and recharge card. If there is no recharge, no calls can be made.

Between now and 31st December, where is the money coming from... 2013 budget? , supplementary budget or from sale of PHCN without assembly approval?

They cannot continue like this.

And they are always so quick to scream that "we are intellectuals" , constructive criticism they can't take...dolts.