The National Association of Nigerian Students [NANS] has threatened to boycott the 2019 general elections should the Federal Government fail to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The chairman of the Abuja chapter of NANS, Mojeed Omolaja, stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at a one-day conference organised by Online Publishers Association of Nigeria [OPAN] with the theme: “Free Press and objective reporting in the 2019 election year.”
He also distanced the FCT chapter of NANS from the faction of NANS led by one Akpan Daniels Bamidele who was said to be a student of Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
The Bamidele-led NANS had visited President Muhammadu Buhari where he endorsed his re-election, according to Punch.
Omolaja insisted that the NANS officials who paid courtesy call to the President were not fair, adding that the FCT chapter of NANS stood for integrity.
He said, “We in the FCT here are not part of those who went to eulogise the President; we stand for integrity and anything we get right in FCT will be got right in all the states of the federation because we lead and others follow.
“The Nigerian students will not vote in the forthcoming election if academic activities do not resume in the universities.
“In this forthcoming elections, we the FCT chapter of NANS that controls other chairmen in other states have deemed it fit not to participate in the election until when ASUU calls off the strike, because they can’t be playing with our future.
“Their children are going to school abroad and we are here and they still want their children to come and rule over us with their lackadaisical attitude towards our education.
“It is quite unfortunate that at this point in time students are at home doing nothing.
“The major reason we are at home is that ASUU is on strike and we expect the Federal Government to meet their demands because this incessant issue is a catastrophic setback to the students.
“Imagine somebody spending seven to eight years to finish a four-year programme. It is not done abroad. Is it because our parents don’t have the financial muscle to send us abroad?”