Opinion: A tribute to ex-ASUU president, Festus Iyayi

by Salihu Lukman

Prof-Iyayi-1Prof. Iyayi would have been very much alive with us today but for the irresponsible conduct of our Federal Government in breaching the agreement it willfully entered into with ASUU. On account of that breach, unquantifiable amount of resources have been wasted, including human lives.

The name Festus Iyayi symbolises struggle for academic freedom, democratisation of our educational system, national development and socialism.

He was the President of the Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, in the 1980s. In 1987, under his leadership, the Ibrahim Babangida administration banned ASUU, terminated the employment of Prof. Iyayi from University of Benin, and subsequently arrested, detained and tortured him.

It is to the credit of Prof. Iyayi and ASUU leadership that the Union survived those repressive measures and is operating based on its founding principles. Most organisations, even when they survive, are hardly able to make any claims to values.

No doubt, the 1980s was a defining period for popular organisations in Nigeria. It was a period where the Federal Government, under the military, virtually declared a war against freedom to organise and, to that extent, declared leaders of organisations as subversives.

Organisations, such as ASUU, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, faced direct attacks from the military between 1984 and 1999.

During this period, these organisations were banned several times and their leaders persecuted, victimised, arrested and detained without trial for months. Laws were promulgated by the government to justify its actions. These laws, in some cases, came with ouster clauses that disqualified our courts from entertaining cases bordering on the enforcement of the fundamental rights of victims – most of whom were leaders of these organisations.

Without any questions, the capacity of organisations to survive those dark periods was challenged and leaders, such as the late Mahmud Tukur, Iyayi, Attahiru Jega, Hassan Sumonu, Ali Ciroma, Wahab Goodluck, Dapo Fatogun, late Chris Abashi, Lanre Arogundade, Hilkiya Bubajoda, Emma Ezeazu and many others, were illustrious in their contributions.

ASUU provided the intellectual foundation for the radical orientation of these organisations to resist and outlive military rule. Sadly, NANS is way distant from its radical nationalist orientation of the 1980s. NLC lives virtually in its old glory. Both for NANS and NLC, values may just be limited to bearing a “Comrade” title with hardly any meaning.

More than any organisation, ASUU has remained consistent and was able to grow a community of leaders with organic links to wider society. Unlike NLC and NANS, the community of leaders in ASUU have, till today, sustained the Union’s organisational focus, orientation and commitment to broader values of national development, which has underpinned its demands and struggles over the years.

In the Nigerian context, ASUU is one of the few nongovernmental organisations that is still linked to all its leaders since its founding. It was this link that explains Iyayi’s role and why he was traveling for ASUU NEC meeting on the fateful day, Tuesday, November 12, he lost his life.

The pain of Iyayi’s loss has made many of us to ask questions that are, at best, immaterial. Of course, for many who only knew Iyayi remotely, their response reflect a confusion of what may happen to the expected suspension of the three months old ASUU strike.

For those us who were privileged to know Iyayi, personally, I am not sure any word can convey our feeling. It is a feeling that borders on admiration, respect and obedience. I was privileged to serve as NANS President 1988/89 at a time when Students’ Unions were banned in almost all tertiary institutions in the country.

In July, 1988, when we were elected, our primary mandate was the re-activation of Students’ Union structures in the country. In the face of repressive measures, a team of more than 20 students leaders from all over the country was basically reduced to a team of four. The first person that resigned from that Exco was the NANS Secretary whose father, being a Deputy Commissioner of Police, was threatened.

For many of us, it was a period that exposed us to the fact that there were Nigerians that had broken all barriers and risen above all primordial sentiments. These Nigerians related with us in very special ways. Although not older than their children, they discussed every issue with us with respect, treated us like their peers, which, in many respects, challenged our intellect. In the process, we had good access to academic literature.

Prof. Iyayi, the community of intellectuals in ASUU, patriotic leaders of NLC and other Nigerians really made us who we are today. Without the support of these people, many of us, who grew through the ranks of the student movement, would have simply evaporated into the confused Nigerian society that recognises no skill or talent.

Unfortunately, some of us who are privileged to find themselves in the corridors of power forget this fact. A good example was the way Labaran Maku, current Minister of Information, described former ASUU Chairman, Dipo Fashina, as a “character” during the January, 2012 fuel subsidy strike. This was to say the least an uncharitable statement coming from Maku who was a product of the sacrifices of people like Iyayi and Fashina.

As brothers and comrades, we have a responsibility to be brutally frank to each other.

Part of the calamity that has befallen us is the fact that we made very stupid mistakes on account of which some of our best are today serving one of the worst governments produced in this country. I am certain this will be contested largely on opportunistic grounds. However, I can accept that at the end of it all, the basis of all justifications is simply our stupid mistakes of not engaging the Abdulsalami Abubakar transition programme in1998 in an organised way. On account of this mistake, people like Maku have taken individual decisions and may have forgotten their own history.

This highlights a strong disconnect between those of us who have passed through the mentorship of people like Iyayi.

One cannot but salute the capacity of that old community of leaders that include Prof. Iyayi, Dr. Fashina, Prof. Olorode, Alh. Sumonu, etc. Somehow, these leaders must be going through traumatising experiences of having to absorb all these shocks while continuing to provide unwavering leadership in the struggles for Nigeria’s development.

Part of the criticism against ASUU is the fact that it has only one weapon of fighting bad governance and dictatorship. That weapon is STRIKE.

Under a democracy, there are other weapons, which include lobbying the National Assembly. Of course, given the realities facing us, it is legitimate to have low confidence with respect to outcomes of engagement with the National Assembly.

There is also the fact that strikes have worked very well for ASUU. Since the early 1990s, all ASUU strikes have succeeded in terms of winning demands. In some ways therefore, ASUU and its leadership are only responding instinctively.

Perhaps, we need to find ways of engaging some of our leaders and mentors, such that, they are challenged to act more logically and scientifically. I have no direct answers with respect to this but I believe that strike, especially the current one, may not be the best logical and scientific answer to the problem of a breach of contractual agreement. There are certainly other solutions.

The best tribute we can give to Prof. Iyayi is for us all as a nation to commit ourselves to finding all the options at our disposal to address the problem of irresponsible conducts of our governments and leaders.

Prof. Iyayi would have been very much alive with us today but for the irresponsible conduct of our Federal Government in breaching the agreement it willfully entered into with ASUU. On account of that breach, unquantifiable amount of resources have been wasted, including human lives.

The loss of Prof. Iyayi is the high point. May it be the turning point; such that, as a people we are able to commit ourselves to rescuing this country.

May the death of Prof. Iyayi awaken all of us to the need to discover new ways and methods of solving all our societal problems, especially those created by the irresponsible conducts of our governments and leaders.

Finally, may the death of Prof. Iyayi serve as the watershed in the struggle for higher education in the country; such that, strikes become the remotest of weapons and least employed.

Rest in peace Prof. Festus Iyayi!

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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