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 ,
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.
Tags
Politics
He is a stupid governor who doesn't haf a common sense,y shud he go to d hospital wit press crew n claim he is mourning,is dat how he mourns his own father n family?It shows there are lot of irresponsible personels in pdp occupying public offices.ASUU shud sue him 4 killing their leader bcause if it dafor driver or a common man now d police or FRSC wuld haf drag him to court by now,so y can't they do d same tin to dis irresponsible man called dat called himself governor n yet he is even lying against d dead man,God will punish u o wada or what ever stupid name u called urself,u are so heartless,I don't imagine dis kind of man shud be voted 4 a civiliazed country but dis is nigeria where pdp an evil party is ruling,so many ungodly n evil tins takes place,may god save us.
ReplyDeleteMay his soul find eternal rest Amen
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