ASUU Leaders Chase Kogi Governor Away From Hospital

Angry leaders of the Academic Staff Union
of Universities allegedly chased away the
Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada
(retd.) from the emergency ward of the
Lokoja General Hospital on Tuesday.
Wada had gone to the hospital to visit their
injured colleague, Dr. Ngozi Ilo, and
commiserate with them over the death of
their former President, Prof. Festus Iyayi, in
an accident involving his convoy and an
ASUU vehicle on Tuesday.
The Chairman, University of Benin chapter
of ASUU, Dr. Anthony Monye-Emina; and
the Benin Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Sunny
Iyalo, had minor injuries and were
therefore not admitted into the hospital.
The ASUU leaders, including the National
President, Dr. Biodun Ogunyemi; the
Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Nassir
Adesola; the Chairman, Lagos State
University chapter of the union, Dr.
Adekunle Idris; Monye-Emina; Iyalo and
lecturers from the Federal University Lokoja
however sent the governor away from the
hospital’s emergency ward.
Their grouse was Wada’s late response to
the accident and the uncaring attitude he
allegedly displayed towards the union
leaders involved in the accident.
They also accused him of trying to make a
political gain out of their misfortune.
Idris, who confirmed that Wada was chased
out of the emergency ward, said, “We are
surprised that a state governor could
resort to telling lies because contrary to the
claim by his spokesperson that he showed
care towards our colleagues, he did not.
“Somebody that did not stop after his
convoy killed our leader; somebody that
did not come to the hospital until some
minutes to 5pm(on Tuesday) after the
accident that happened around 11am could
not be said to be caring.
“That was why we chased him out of the
emergency ward of the hospital and we
also prevented him from seeing Prof.
Iyayi’s corpse in the mortuary.
“We are not happy with the fact that he
came very late to the hospital and the fact
that when he came, his press crew
attempted to take photograph and video
record of Dr. Ilo, who is our national
welfare secretary. We stopped them
because that was the height of insensitivity.
“Somebody that could not provide us with
an ambulance cannot be said to be caring.
We had to call UNIBEN for an ambulance
that took Ilo to the UNIBEN Teaching
Hospital while our colleagues from the
Federal University, Lokoja, with the
assistance of the vice-chancellor, gave us
the ambulance that was used to convey the
remains of Prof. Iyayi to Benin.”
Idris added that though Wada left the
hospital “like a gentleman,” some of his
overzealous security aides tried to be
naughty.
He said, “Some of the policemen that
followed him to the hospital wanted to be
naughty but we lectured them. The hospital
workers and the residents of Lokoja who
witnessed how we chased the governor
away were happy.”
Also, Adesola expressed dismay at the
efforts made by the governor to rewrite the
incident.
He said, “It was actually the last of the
governor’s convoy that veered off the road
and ran into a vehicle that was conveying
Iyayi and others.
“When the governor’s convoy came with
noise and harassment, everyone on the
road moved to the side of the road for
them to pass but unfortunately, the
governor’s aide has told the world that an
ASUU vehicle was avoiding a trailer and ran
into their escort vehicle.
“What manner of reckless lying is that? The
front of the ASUU bus remains intact
except for the windscreen that broke. Iyayi
was sitting at the back of the bus and the
escort van ran into it.
The most annoying part is that the incident
occurred around 11am and the governor
did not even visit the hospital until around
5pm.
“He came with a large number of pressmen
and security aides and was attempting to
make some political capital out of our
misfortune.
“We actually had to chase him away from
the emergency ward where our welfare
secretary was still receiving treatment .”
But Jacob Edi, the Special Adviser, Media
and Strategy to Wada, claimed that the
ASUU leaders did not chase his boss away
from the hospital.
Edi, who in a telephone interview with one
of our correspondents, insisted that Wada
was not indifferent to the plight of the
accident victims, however, stated that the
union officials were not friendly.
He said, “When the governor went to the
hospital, the ASUU people had a kind of
adverse reaction to the governor. But they
did not chase away the governor. Nobody
chased away anybody.”
The governor’s spokesman added that the
state government would not want to be
involved in controversy over the death of
the former ASUU president.
He stated that Wada was pained by the
accident and had been sympathising with
the bereaved families and the survivors.
It was however not only the ASUU leaders
that lambasted the governor over the
accident, the Nigeria Labour Congress, a
former President of the Trade Union
Congress, Mr. Peter Esele and an ex-
Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr.
Abubakar Tsav, also did.
They described Wada’s convoy as reckless
and demanded the prosecution of the
driver of the escort vehicle that caused the
accident on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.
The NLC, in a statement in Abuja by its
National President, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar,
described the death of Iyayi as avoidable.
It also blamed the Federal Government for
its neglect of the road.
The NLC said its position was that the
federal and Kogi State governments were
responsible for Iyayi’s death.
It said that 10 years after the contract for
the rehabilation of the Lokoja-Abuja Road
was awarded, it had been turned to a death
trap.
The NLC said, “Iyayi’s death leaves a sour
taste in the mouth and it is totally
avoidable. It is blameable, lawlessness/
impunity on the part of the Kogi State
governor, who is fast acquiring for himself
an accident-prone reputation.
The congress therefore advised “siren-
blowing and terror-dealing convoys” to be
conscious of other road users.
It called on the Federal Roads Safety Corps
and the Nigeria Police to ensure that those
behind the accident were brought to
justice.
Esele and Tsav urged the relevant
authorities to ensure that the convoy driver
involved in the accident was prosecuted.
They spoke in different telephone
interviews with our correspondents.
According to them, Wada has a
responsibility to caution his drivers as his
convoy has become reputed for
recklessness.
Esele recalled that the convoy of the
governor was involved in an accident which
resulted in the death of Wada’s Aide de
Camp and in which Wada was also injured.
Tsav, who described the death of the
former ASUU leader as unfortunate, called
on President Goodluck Jonathan to meet
the demands of ASUU.
This, he said, would be in appreciation of
the fact that Iyayi died while contributing to
the development of university education in
the country.
Tsav said that accidents occurred in Kogi
State not because the roads in Kogi were
the worst but because the drivers in the
governor’s convoy were not cautious.
He said that the roads were not meant only
for the political office holders but for all
Nigerians.
He said, “The convoy of Wada is known for
being reckless; this is not the first time this
is happening. It does not mean that the
worst roads are in Kogi State.
“I want to appeal to him to caution his
drivers, they are reckless, he should
caution them to be cautious on the roads,
the roads belong to every Nigerian.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/ASUU-
leaders-chase-kogi-gov-away-from-
hospital/

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10