THE family of the late former President of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),
Prof. Festus Iyayi, yesterday, disassociated
themselves from the N50billion demand from
the Kogi State
government over the death of their son, saying
that no amount of money can compensate for
the loss.
Meanwhile the Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN)
has appealed to the striking ASUU members to
call off the strike action as a mark of respect for
Prof.Iyayi.
It would be recalled that the Onojie of Ugbegun,
home town of late Prof Iyayi, had demanded the
sum of N50bilion as compensation for the death
of their son.
However, Prof. Robert Ebewale, a cousin to the
deceased, told Vanguard yesterday that it was
embarrassing to try to equate the life of Prof
Iyayi with money, saying that the family was
embarrassed with N50billion demand.
“No amount of money can be compared with the
life of that calibre of person, so we want to
disassociate our family with that. It is
embarrassing to us,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN)
received with shock the death of Prof. Iyayi,
Prof. Iyayi was an accomplished academic,
author and unionist and a detribalized Nigerian
who gave voice to the voiceless and defended
the defenceless against arbitrariness and
impunity by our public officers.
“With his death, the Nigerian revolutionary
movement has been decapitated as Prof. Iyayi
was one of the movement’s brain boxes in the
struggle for a better Nigeria where equity,
fairness and justice will reign. We have lost a
committed comrade and an icon of the struggle
for an egalitarian Nigeria. He was a true and
authentic comrade who devoted his entire life to
the struggle and died fighting for educational
justice for the present and future generations of
Nigerian students,” it stated.
The statement added: “We call on ASUU and the
federal government to speedily resolve the
remaining grey areas in their disagreement to
enable the suspension of the current ASUU strike
as a mark of respect to Prof. Iyayi”.
Credit: Vanguard.. source:
http://www.nigeriasrenaissance.com/index.php/news/item/33135