Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) gave the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, the shock of his life when they chased him away from the emergency ward of the Lokoja General Hospital on Tuesday.
The governor was there to offer his sympathies to the bereaved concerning the death of ASUU leader, Festus Iyayi and also to visit their injured colleague, Dr. Ngozi Ilo.
However senior members of the Union there present including Dr. Nassir Adesola, Ibadan Zonal Coordinator; Dr. Adekunle Idris, Chairman, Lagos State University chapter; and lecturers from the Federal University, Lokoja chased the governor away from the hospital ward, accusing him of trying to score cheap political points with the tragedy.
Dr. Idris 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.”
Governor Idris was said to leave the hospital like a gentleman but some of his security aides wanted to cause trouble.
Dr. Idris 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.”
Speaking on the tragedy itself, Dr. Adesola said the governor was not helpful towards the plight of the victims as being portrayed in some media.
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 .”