ASUU Suspends NEC Meeting over Iyayi's Death

Prof Festus Iyayi

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its National Executive Council meeting planned to hold in Kano on Wednesday, the union’s President, Dr Nasir Fagge, has announced.

Fagge announced the decision at a news briefing in Kano on Wednesday and explained that the union found it necessary to suspend the meeting following the sudden death of Prof Festus Iyayi.

Iyayi, a former president of the union, died in a motor accident in Lokoja on Tuesday, while he was going for the meeting at which the union was expected to decide on its nearly five-month-old strike.

Fagge described the death of Iyayi as a great loss to the country and added that  the deceased was a strong pillar of the union.

‘’You (journalists) have to bear with us because we are in mourning because we lost one of us, who was a strong pillar,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, a student, who preferred not to be named, expressed sadness over the development.

‘’We are not happy with the situation because we have overstayed at home,’’, the student said.

Another student called on ASUU to fix a new date for the meeting in order to resolve the lingering crisis.

‘’We are not really happy but since it is the death of their member, they were right to have suspended the meeting.

‘’But we thought they will fix a new date for the meeting before leaving the venue,’’ he added.

NAN reports that chairmen of various branches of the union who came for the meeting left for their stations from  Bayero University, Kano, where the meeting was scheduled to hold, according to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  report.