by Michael Orodare

It’s so unfortunate that NANS today has degenerated to a state where its annual convention can pass for nothing else but a political party convention, with unimaginable acts which student unionism should not be identified with and lack of vision for the students interest.

I never expected so much outrage on the presidential pardon granted Alamieyeseigha because this is a country of all possibilities, there’s no impossibility in the Nigerian dictionary, and I don’t think it will ever exist. As long as this nation remains Nigeria, anything is bound to happen, the grotesque and the unimaginable, for Nigerians, nothing comes as a surprise to us again.

If this is not Nigeria, then as many have argued, Alamieyeseigha shouldn’t have gotten that presidential pardon. But this is Nigeria where you can be cooling your heels in the four corners of Kirikiri maximum prison and be confident of winning an election not as a representative of co-inmates, but as a Senator of the Federal Republic. Steal public funds in billions of naira, thou shall not fear what anti-graft agencies will do to you, you have an option of plea-bargain, the ultimate prize you will pay is a token sum of N100million and your loot shall set you free, but don’t just try stealing thousands, you may never live to tell the story anyway, if you try it, you might end up being ‘Aluued’.

But in the case of President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), I never thought it could happen, when it happened, I never believed it happened, and when it became a reality, I was so disappointed not because it happened, but because it happened among the younger generations, the future of this nation. I could not easily fathom the absurdity that a rusticated student, Yinka Gbadebo is the number one student in Nigeria. It sounds horrible, but that’s just the way it is, because this is Nigeria, where anything can happen.

History will not judge our generation for what we fail to do, but for the rot in the society which we close our eyes to.

Gbadebo was rusticated while he was the Welfare Director of the Student Union Government of University of Ado-Ekiti (now Ekiti State University) for physically assaulting the then Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Akin Oyebode

Mr NANS President was said to have slapped the VC of his former university and he was expelled when he was in 300level as an Accounting student, years after his expulsion, Gbadebo finds his way to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he is currently running a diploma programme in Local Government studies. A source said Gbadebo didn’t go to OAU because he wants to further his education, but in order to run for a post in NANS. Mission fulfilled and he’s now the President. I’m aware that the first perquisite for anyone to contest any office in NANS is that: ‘such an individual must be a matriculated student of a school recognized by JAMB.’ Was Gbadebo matriculated into OAU? Was he admitted into OAU through JAMB? Who signed Gbadebo’s intent form to run for the post? We also need to ask the VC of OAU, Prof Tale Omole, if he ever recognised Gbadebo as a student of the institution? These and many other questions are still begging for answers.

Gbadebo’s participation in that election as a candidate also puts to question, the credibility of the members of the Convention Planning Committee, the screening committee, the senate members (electorates) and other stakeholders in NANS, or was he imposed on them by any ‘oga at the top’?

It’s so unfortunate that NANS today has degenerated to a state where its annual convention can pass for nothing else but a political party convention, with unimaginable acts which student unionism should not be identified with and lack of vision for the students interest.

When future leaders are today’s hoodlums, there is nothing more assuring than a gloomy future. If these are the set of people warming up as future leaders, then I fear for the future of this nation, because we may never get it right.

Everyday on the social media we castigate the government over bad leadership, but we the younger generations seem to be worse, we are now enmeshed in acts capable of bringing doom upon the future.

When tomorrow comes, Gbadebo may also aspire for a public office in Nigeria, just like other student union leaders in politics today. But on what basis? When the foundation he’s standing upon is already laced with perfidy. Even if social values are falling in the society, such shouldn’t be found in NANS or other groups which claim to protect the interest of the youths.

This is definitely not the type of leadership needed to purge NANS and redeem its days of glory, when it was an active resistance association during the military era in Nigeria, an association which played a pivotal role in the movement for the return of Nigeria to civilian rule. A group of young Nigerians who never compromised despite the intimidations and brutality they suffered from the Military government. We may never see that NANS of the 90s again with this type of leadership.

Is the labour of NANS past heroes now going in vain?

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Michael Olanrewaju Orodare has worked in the Office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Ondo State Governor as a Media Assistant. He has garnered experience writing in the The Nation Newspaper working with the paper’s Sunday Desk. He leans towards the Labour Party. He blogs at www.michaelorodare.blogspot.com and tweets from @MichaelOrodare

 

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