The shocking, painful story of Festus Iyayi

*The ICPC, UN connection
By Jide Ajani
This report reveals the genuine drive of Professor
Festus Iyayi to shape the lives of young Nigerians in
the path of honour and integrity. It is also the story of
how that commitment would have seen him share his
ideas and ideals with other intellectuals from across
the globe. But it was not to be. Fate, cruel fate, put
paid to all the dreams depriving Nigeria and the world
of a good man. It is a shocking story of how the bed of
the hotel room reserved for him in far away
Washington DC, United States of America, was never
to enjoy the bubbling life of Iyayi.
Just some three hours before his death, Festus Iyayi
demonstrated how vain life remains.
At about 7:38 on that fateful day, the chairman of the
Independent Corrupt Practices (and other related
offences) Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, had engaged Iyayi
in a telephone conversation about a pending trip outside
the country.
The trip was a product of a relationship that practically
started in early 2012 – Iyayi had been nominated as one of
two academics to represent Nigeria at a global forum in
Panama. It was the 4th Annual Meeting of the Anti-
Corruption Academic Initiative, organized by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC.

A SIMPLE MAN BY NATURE
In fact, Nta placed a call to Iyayi that fateful morning to
inform him that all was set for the trip, having himself
gotten communication from Jonathan Agar, the Associate
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, Corruption
and EconomiCrime Branch Implementation Support
Section, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC, that the United
Nationa, UN, was “pleased to inform you (Nta) that
UNODC will be in a position to financially support the
attendance of the two Nigerian academics you have
identified to participate in the 4th Annual Meeting of the
Anti-Corruption Academic Initiative. My colleagues Sasa
and Alexey will now contact them to arrange relevant
logistics”. This mail was sent to Nta on Friday, November
1, 2013.
According to the ICPC chairman, “The day he died, I spoke
to him at 7:38 – it is still very fresh in my memory.
“He said he was going to Kano.
“I asked ‘where are you’? He said Benin and I asked if
there was any direct flight from Benin to Kano and he said
he was going with his colleagues by road.
“But I told him that he had paid his dues and should allow
his younger colleagues to go by road if they wanted to
while he should fly.

“I also reminded him that he was yet to fully recover from
the 13hour meeting he had with Mr. President just a few
days earlier.
“He said ‘don’t worry, it is part of the struggle’”.
That singular act of humility and sacrifice is vintage Iyayi.
But his act of humility and simple approach to life would
be demonstrated some 15minutes later.
Continuing, Nta told Sunday Vanguard that “It was then I
told him about my communication with Washington and
also about the hotel reservations we had made which was
$100 for that night and also asked if I should get a
separate room for him and the other lecturer because they
were to pay or if he would rather share the room since
there were separate beds.
“He said he would rather stay on his own and rest well.”
The other lecturer for the trip was Ekeopara, Chike
Augustine Dr.
That was how the brief conversation ended.
“But surprisingly”, Nta continued, “later on, just some
15/20 minutes after, Dr. Ekeopara called me to say
Professor Iyayi had called him to change his mind; that if
he was going to sit with Dr. Ekeopara for the duration of
the flight from Nigeria to Washington, then why
can’t he sleep in the same room with the colleague for just
about seven to eight hours since there were separate
beds.
“Ekeopara called me at about 8 that morning and we left it
at that.”
THE SAD NEWS
At about 1:30, Nta was in a board meeting when Ekeopara
called and said he had bad news
“He said Prof is dead, he had an accident, that’s what
we’ve heard.
“Immediately that brought to bear on my consciousness
the ephemeral nature of life – somebody “I spoke to at
7:38 and by 11 he was dead.
“As we speak, we still have his international passport with
us here; we just collected it from the US embassy.
“It’s really very sad because he really had a lot to offer this
country as a model to the youth.
“He was not doing what he was not saying and that was
why we wanted to use him.
“He wasn’t a hustler.
“And he had a lot to offer because having stayed for so
long in the academia, he could tame the younger lecturers
who think life is about being flashy.
“When I went to Benin I saw how highly respected he was
by his colleagues.
“But we are very proud in ICPC to have been associated
with him.”
A JOURNEY IN MOTIVATION
Nta told Sunday Vanguard how he got to build a
relationship with the late Iyayi.
“As part of our interest in developing young minds,
Professor Iyayi was the first lecturer to invite ICPC to his
university to come and sensitize the students to the ills of
corruption.
“He invited us to Benin in 2012.
“He was inviting me based on interactions we’ve had.
“I’ve read his book but we never met person to person
until he stepped into the ICPC premises and came up to
my office.
“It was not as if there was a prior invitation; Iyayi just
came here and requested to meet with the ICPC chairman.
“He was granted audience.
“He said, ‘please could you come and have a session with
my students in the business administration department on
the issue of ethics and integrity because they are in
business and there’re lots of malpractices in the business
world. But when you speak to them and when they leave
the University of Benin as graduates of business, they
would be sought after on the basis of their integrity’.

would be sought after on the basis of their integrity’.
“I felt that made a lot of sense.
“We fixed an appointment and I told them I was coming.
“I think he broached the issue with the Vice Chancellor,
Professor Oshodin, and the VC said ‘no, it would not just
be for your department; the whole university would be
involved’.
“A few days before then, I had some other engagement
and I called him to try to reschedule the session with the
students.
“He said ‘chairman please don’t even think of it. The
session is now far bigger than what you thought. The VC is
insisting that the university should be involved and we
have flyers everywhere so please chairman you must
come. As a matter of fact the faculty and the university
community are expecting you’.
“I flew into Benin the day before the event in the evening.
“It was scheduled for 11am. 10:30am, we met with the VC.
Iyayi was so time conscious that at exactly 11am, we were
in the hall.
“When I finished with the students after about four hours,
the response was great. I gave them my e-mail address
and my telephone numbers. You can’t imagine what
happened thereafter. I had over 300 e-mails from
students based on the interaction.
“And that was what made me believe that there is hope
for this country if we harness the right publics. The bulk of
our population is the youth and we must address them.
“From then on Iyayi and I started working out the package
and I then asked him that I would like to sponsor any
student who is interested in corruption studies and he
said there was already one doing his PhD in that field. We
provided a grant from ICPC as well as materials from our
office for his research and we are in a close relationship on
that basis”.

IYAYI’S NOMINATION FOR THE UN PROGRAMME
Explaining how Iyayi was nominated for the global event,
Nta disclosed that “when I presented some of our
activities at the UNODC in Vienna, the whole world
marveled at what could be done and so eventually
participants agreed with me that they should start
corruption studies as a full time course in Nigerian
universities.
“But I told them that I don’t have that kind of money and
they said ‘we would help you’.
“For curriculum training, they insisted they needed to see
the lecturers who would be involved.
“It was on that basis that I nominated the late Professor
Festus Iyayi and one other lecturer from the University of
Calabar, Dr. Ekeopara – because I also had an interaction
with the students of the University of Calabar; I interacted
with students of the University of Ibadan.
“I sent words to him that I had nominated him and he was
shocked and said ‘you’ve nominated me for such an
important assignment’!
“I told him yes and that it is because he can do it and
would, therefore, be able to replicate it for other
universities in Nigeria.
“He agreed.
“And because we were to go to Panama, the United
Nations agreed to pay for his ticket, pay for his flight and
give materials.
“It was the final lap of the arrangements that I discussed
with him that fateful day before his death, about three
hours later”.