JAF Insists Festus Iyayi Was Murdered, Holds Presidency, Minister of Defence and IGP Responsible

The Joint Action Front (JAF) has declared that Professor Festus Iyayi was murdered by operatives of the Nigerian State, contrary to the widely reported claims that he died in a road crash on November 12 on account of the recklessness of the Kogi State Governor’s convoy.

In an alert to Nigerians and the international community yesterday, JAF said it has every reason to believe that the murder of Comrade Iyayi was connected with the ongoing Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) strike designed to compel the Federal Government not only to honour the Collective Agreements it reached with the union in 2009, but also to make the government to adequately fund public education contrary to the dictates of the IMF and World Bank.

“We strongly believe that the assassination of Comrade Iyayi was carried out by expert shooters in the cover of the Nigerian Intelligence, reminiscent of the State murder of Dele Giwa in 1986 and Kudirat Abiola in 1996,” JAF said.

It asserted that the ‘official explanation’ by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Dr. Paul Amodu, the Sole Administrator of the Specialist Hospital Lokoja, that Comrade Iyayi’s death was as a result of the accident, does not explain away “THE STRANGE OBJECT THAT PIERCED IYAYI’s HEART”.

It described the assassination of Comrade Iyayi as a State act aimed at destabilising ASUU in the wake of a major national struggle and his prominent role in exposing the Government’s IMF and World Bank destructive policies in Education and the Nigerian economy, thereby putting a lie to the false claims that Nigeria is broke, as a cover for looting public wealth for private selfish interests.

“Nigerians must know that a former ASUU President, Comrade Dr. Mahmud Tukur was murdered in a similar painted-accident scenario on the Kaduna-Zaria road in 1982 following ASUU’s dispute with the Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Government in 1980/81 on the same issue of funding, university autonomy and academic freedom, as it is today with the Jonathan Presidency.”

Commiserating with Iyayi’s family, colleagues and friends as well as the oppressed poor in Nigeria and Africa JAF urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and ASUU to join forces with JAF to unravel the truth behind the assassination of Iyayi by challenging the Presidency, Minister of Defence and the Inspector General of Police to TELL the PUBLIC “THE STRANGE OBJECT WHICH PIERCED IYAYI’s HEART and why he was MURDERED?

The group further described Iyayi’s death as a wakeup call to all Nigerians to struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE.

“As far as we in JAF are concerned, Nigerians should no longer tolerate this unjust polity where: a very tiny group of Nigerians who loot the treasury use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power; use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer and use the unjust system to bring out the army and the police to kill the poor people and comrades whenever we protest against oppression and exploitation.”