Has NANS Become a Political Tool? A call for Transparency and Democratic Integrity in Convention Process

By Olamide Odumosu 

The events that followed the 2026 NANS Pre-Convention Senate Sitting of March 1st, 2026 held in College of Education, Warri, Delta state have once again exposed a dangerous pattern threatening the democratic soul of the Nigerian students’ movement.

The announcement of an Independent Convention Planning Committee (In-CPC) ought to have inspired confidence among Nigerian students. Instead, the appointment of Oladele Samuel Omotayo (Kenko) as Chairman has triggered legitimate outrage and deep suspicion across the senators and stakeholders.

Let it be stated clearly and without diplomatic sugarcoating:

NANS cannot preach democracy while practicing political manipulation.

A Committee Called “Independent” led by a Political Godfather of a particular candidate?

The greatest irony of this appointment is embedded in the committee’s very name: Independent Convention Planning Committee (In-CPC).

How can independence exist when the Chairman is a well-known political godfather to one of the Presidential aspirants?

This is not speculation within the students’ movement; it is common political knowledge. Appointing a partisan figure to supervise an electoral transition is equivalent to handing over the referee’s whistle to a team coach before kickoff.

Such an action insults the intelligence of Nigerian students and openly compromises the credibility of the convention process.

It is nothing but a zonal domination disguised as transition process

Even more alarming is the geopolitical implication of this decision.

The Chairman emerges from the same zone (South West- Zone D) already positioning itself to produce the next President of NANS. This represents a dangerous democratic aberration and an unacceptable concentration of power.

When the zone seeking the Presidency also controls the transition machinery, what remains is not democracy, it is orchestration.

NANS was never founded to operate as a regional enterprise or political estate owned by a few power brokers.

AN OPEN DISPLAY OF DISTRUST AND EXCLUSION

This appointment sends a loud and disrespectful message to the other 5 zones: That no competent, neutral, or trustworthy comrades exist outside a preferred political camp.

It is an insult to the collective capacity of Nigerian students and stakeholders nationwide. It suggests that leadership is already reserved for a select circle while others are merely invited to witness their coronation.

If this structure stands, it signals what the next NANS administration will look like; a selective government serving godfathers, few loyalists, and political benefactors rather than Nigerian students and the core interest of the Association.

Nigerian students are tired of conventions whose outcomes are decided long before accreditation begins.

What is unfolding before us resembles a carefully arranged succession plan, another leadership selection disguised as election.

History will not be kind to those who attempt to mortgage the democratic heritage of NANS for personal political calculations.

OUR UNAMBIGUOUS POSITION

The Hope Rebirth Team therefore state without hesitation:

1. The Hope Rebirth Team strongly reject the appointment of Comrade Oladele Samuel Omotayo (Kenko) as Chairman of the In-CPC as he is widely known as the godfather of one of the contestants to the Office of the President as well as coming from NANS Zone D, a zone reservedly producing the next President.

2. The Hope Rebirth Team call on the President of NANS and the Senate Arm: We demand the immediate dissolution and reconstitution of the committee with genuinely neutral personalities particularly the Chairman and key principal officers.

3. The Hope Rebirth Team calls on all principled student leaders, senators, stakeholders, and Student Union Presidents' nationwide to resist any attempt to turn NANS into a coronation ground.

4. NANS belongs to Nigerian students and its Stakeholders not to godfathers, not to zones, and not to predetermined interests.

The students’ movement was built through struggle, resistance, and sacrifice. My team and I will not stand by while democratic principles are replaced with political arrangements.

If the process is compromised, the outcome will never command legitimacy.

The time to defend NANS democracy is now, not after another imposed leadership emerges.

Aluta Continua! Victoria Ascerta!!

Olamide Odumosu is a Presidential Aspirant in NANS Hope-Rebirth 2026.