The leadership crisis in the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has taken a new turn as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, has been petitioned by the NANS leadership to intervene in the matter.
The factional President of NANS, Pedro Obi, is being accused of impersonating NANS President, Lucky Emonefe, and the NANS leadership is demanding that he be arrested and prosecuted. In a solidarity rally led by Emonefe, he presented a position paper to Akume, seeking his intervention in the matter.
The petition was received on behalf of the SGF by the Deputy Security Officer, Haliru Musa. The crisis in the association has been escalating, with each faction laying claims to the leadership of the student body. The situation came to a head on Tuesday when the two factions engaged in a violent clash that left one person severely injured in the Federal Capital Territory.
Emonefe alleged that since Obi lost the election at the NANS convention held between November 27 and December 3, 2023, he had been parading himself as NANS President, after declaring himself the winner of the election. He described Obi as an ‘impostor’ and urged the Federal Government to direct security agencies to arrest him to prevent students from taking the law into their own hands. The SGF’s intervention is expected to bring an end to the crisis and restore peace to the student body.
