Students’ Affairs: NANS Faction Accuses Seyi Tinubu Of Interference

A factional president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has accused Presidebt Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s son, Seyi, of interference in the affairs of the association.

NANS President Atiku Abubakar Isah, who claimed to have emerged as the association’s leader during its national convention held on February 27, alleged that Seyi disrupted the association’s inauguration ceremony held on Tuesday in Abuja and threatened to kill him.

He alleged that Seyi arrived the hotel used as the venue of the inauguration with a large number of security men and ordered them to stop the event.

“Seyi has just ordered for me to be assassinated after the plea to buy me with money failed,” Isah alleged.

“The management of the hotel informed me about the interference, but I decided to go ahead with the inauguration. Immediately after we were inaugurated and Senator (Ibrahim) Shekarau began his speech, Seyi’s thugs entered the hall wielding guns and cutlasses. They stopped the senator, began stabbing people and chased others away, snatching phones and valuables in the process

“Before the day of the inauguration, Seyi had asked the Senior Special Assistant on Students and Youth Affairs to lure me into silence with money. I was told he was ready to offer me a hundred million naira. My refusal to accept the bribe led to the attack yesterday (Tuesday).

“When Seyi’s thugs, led by one Ladoja, came in with machetes and guns, they beat people and injured many. Nigerians should beg Seyi to spare my life.”

“They attacked Senator Shekarau, the former Minister of Education, and also Captain Idris Wada, the former governor of Kogi State. Fortunately, both of them were whisked away by their security details. I, however, was taken to an unknown location after being beaten and injured,” Isah alleged.

A former NANS Senate President, Henry Okunomo, also accused Seyi of using his influence to intimidate individuals within NANS and weaken the association’s independence and focus.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, Okunomo said Seyi’s involvement had made NANS “porous” and diverted its focus from advocating students’ welfare.

“In fact, let me say, the organisation is almost losing it because these people have programmed the organisation in the sense that if you do not have government backing, I’m afraid you might not be able to become anything in the organisation. I am afraid we might not become anything useful in the organisation except for a few who have the association at heart.

“With the involvement of the president’s son for the past one year, he has done everything to make sure that the organisation is porous. What he stands to gain, I don’t know. What he wants to achieve, I don’t know. But the question I want the general public to ask him is, what is his interest in NANS?

“What is his interest in NANS? He wasn’t a stakeholder, he didn’t serve. The only thing that qualifies you is if you have served and are a student in Nigeria. If you don’t meet these criteria, you can’t call yourself a stakeholder,” Okunomo stated.