Politics
2027: NANS breaks into factions over support for President Tinubu
– President’s son, Seyi, accused of N100m inducement
The umbrella body of Nigerian students, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), seems to be passing through another dark phase of its life, reminiscent of the ’70s, which culminated in the infamous Ali Must Go protest that turned bloody.
There have been series of crises before in the national students body , but in the past crises, they were mainly between the students, and on the other hand, authorities.
In the past three weeks, NANs has washed its dirty linen in public, as it has broken into ” political” factions over 2027 politics, with a faction supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for 2027 reelection bid.
The other faction led by Comrade Abubakar Atiku Isah has laid claim to NANS’ crown, alleging intimidation, and financial inducement by ‘Seyi Tinubu, the president’s son to switch support to his father.
Isah alleged that he was abducted and tortured on the order of Tinubu Jnr. after he refused N100 million bribe, saying the torture had the complicity of the director general of the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, in whose presence Seyi allegedly boasted that he could make Isah disappear and then ask the inspector General of Police to ‘cover’ it up.
However, NANS said Atiku Isah was never the president of the association because he never contested in the election for the position. This was after Atiku stated that he was offered N100 million to support the ambition of President Bola Tinubu whom he doesn’t believe in.
He said he rejected the offer, leading to his abduction, which he blamed on Tinubu’s son, Seyi Tinubu, and the current NANS President, Olusola Ladoja.
NANS Disclaimer
However, in a chat with our correspondent, NANS Public Relations Officer (PRO), Samson Ajasa, alleged that Atiku’s recent outburst against the association and Seyi Tinubu is a puerile effort by the coalition of opposition politicians to manipulate and hijack students for their political gain.
Surprisingly, he implored the public to seek more information on NANS’ activities from the Department of State Services (DSS).
Ajasa noted, “Atiku Isah was never and is not the president of NANS. Let me say this: We can’t allow the Nigerian coalition movement to use NANS as a litmus test. Isah never participated in the NANS election. Any person that needs more information should go to the DSS and confirm. Was he screened? Did he sign peace accord? Who screened him? Even as a PRO, I had to get police report and High Court stamp for my form.”
Ajasa noted that when Ladoja lost the 2020 election to former NANS president, Sunday Ashefon, he never called for a faction.
“If anyone wants to declare faction now, it will be people that contested against Ladoja, but they never did. Ladoja won the election massively and that is why there were no gunshots in Abuja, unlike before,” he said.
The PRO argued that Atiku is being bankrolled by some forces for political gains.
“I have a picture here of Atiku and Sowore. I have a picture here of Atiku and Alhaji Atiku himself. They cannot bring up NANS and fund it through Atiku Isah to cause destabilization. They know that once they hit NANS directly, we know how to handle ourselves. Bringing Seyi Tinubu into it is the highest of it all,” he said.
Authenticating his assertion that Ladoja is the dully elected president of NANS, the PRO said past presidents of the association were present at his inauguration.
He also averred that presidents of student unions in campuses across Nigeria all know Ladoja as NANS president.
He further said, “Where is his (Atiku) structure? You called me today as his PRO. Who is his PRO? Who are his executives? When last have you seen him on a civil campus? What action has he taken so far on any issue relating to NANS? I can give you names of those that participated in the election and lost to Ladoja, including those that stepped down. None of them formed any faction.”
He lamented that everything going on now is pure politics, just as he questioned Atiku’s long silence after the election.
“If truly he’s the president, why was there vacuum after the election and why is he just coming out now? It is pure politics and we understand. They cannot use NANS as a platform,” he noted.
Comrade Bala Bwala , former student activist in the 80s at Bayero University Kano told Business Hallmark that “its quite unfortunate that today’s students have betrayed the ideal of students unionism, which in our days stood against unjust order, anti- government because of governments’ anti-intellectual stand. We stood for social justice, we fought the military juntas to standstill, we held progressive ideas, and were constantly in touch with vibrant civil society of the day. We never compromised, and we had our own way of dealing with saboteurs among us. All this is gone, it’s unfortunate.”
Going Forward
Going forward now, NANS has two Presidents – Comrade Atiku Isah controlling one faction, and Comrade Ladoja controlling another faction loyal to the current political leadership.
“The implication of the factionalization is that the students body is weakened as a vibrant pressure group, this is a first move to weaken civil society groups in a bid to consolidate totalitarian hold on segments of society in a bid for full blown dictatorship.
“As you can see, there’s no opposition parties any more, all has been subsumed into APC. The next move is to stifle the Nigeria Bar Association. The significant segment of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Road Transport Workers is already in the hand of the ally of the president. Welcome to Orwellian world”, Dr. Abayomi Adekunle, a political scientist told Business Hallmark.
