NANS Call For The Removal Of President, Asefon |Read Why

Top members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have insisted on the removal of Sunday Asefon as the President of the association over alleged unlawful tenure elongation among others.

 The officials of the students’ movement earlier fixed Friday, August 12, 2022, to inaugurate an acting National President among the two constitutional recommended zonal coordinators of the association.

They had accused Asefon of failing to serve the primary purpose of the association, which is to protect the general interest of all Nigerian students, both at home and abroad.

Asefon was elected on December 4, 2020, for a one-year tenure at the NANS convention in Abuja at the age of 45 and was supposed to hand over in December 2021. He has however failed to conduct another convention or hand over in line with the association’s constitution.

He was reportedly impeached as President over “incompetence, misappropriation of funds, corruption, elongation of tenure and insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian Students”.

However, the Senate President of the association, Chuks Okafor Innocent in a statement on Monday said Asefon remained the constitutionally recognised President of the association.

“Comrade Adedayo Asefon remains the constitutionally recognised President and the Senate is the only authority empowered by the constitution to remove a sitting president,” he said in a statement.

“The transition process is in top gear and those that are agitated because they can’t prove their studentship and as such disqualified from contesting any office in NANS are behind this onslaught against the President because of his insistence that only registered students of a recognised tertiary institution will be cleared to contest the election.

“The President and the Senate have acted according to the constitution by constituting the Convention Planning Committee which is saddled with the responsibility of organising the elective convention and as such the President cannot be blamed for any delay in the process as he is not part of the CPC,” he added.

Speaking to SaharaReporters on Tuesday, Comrade Usman Mohammed, Secretary Zone A Stakeholders Forum, said the dissolution of the Asefon-led executive stands.

According to Mohammed, the constitution of the association supersedes the executive and legislative arms.

He said the NANS constitution states that the tenure for every administration should not exceed a year, and the expiry of every administration ends at the pre-convention.

“It was evident to see for all, how the embattled, and impeached former NANS President, Sunday Asefon has been restless, fuming all over in a bid to unconstitutionally elongate his already overused time in office, a bid which has seen supported by the NANS rubber-stamp Senate led by Comrade Chuks,” he said.

“Whilst Sunday Asefon and his cronies are defending their personal interest and evil vendetta, we, and the entirety of Zone A would defend and uphold only and all of the contents of the NANS Constitution irrespective of any man or his personal interest.

“The NANS Constitution states that the tenure for every NANS administration should not exceed a year, and the expiry of every administration ends at the pre-convention where the convention chairman is chosen. This is the only white paper that would be acknowledged and followed to the letter.

  “It’s on the constitution we stand and no pressure or press statements would hinder the supremacy of the NANS constitution, hence, the constitution-backed office to ascertain the leadership of the association would be inaugurated on August 12 by the Nigerian students.

 “It’s an eyesore and heart stabbing to have the president and Senate President who swore to uphold the NANS constitution desecrate the entirety of the integrity of the NANS constitution for personal and greedy interests as your tenures expired 5 months ago in accordance to the constitution.

“This fight is not a fight against the Office and persons of the NANS President and Senate President, but a concrete move to ensure the supremacy of the constitution over all Nigerian students. The NANS President and Senate President should refrain from the forthcoming election and act just as election observers and well-wishers and progress with their respective lives as we wish them the very best that they both deserve.

  “It’s a total disgrace that the Senate President and the NANS President who both have been mute over the elongated ASUU strike and the incessant killings of our students especially on the death of our final year sister and student in LAUTECH suddenly sprung to life, releasing press statements over a futile bid to elongate their stay in office.

“The impeached NANS President should be duly informed that the collation of the signatures of the JCC Chairmen and Zonal coordinators is underway for the creation of a new leadership who would act and oversee the electioneering process. The readiness of the JCC chairmen and Zonal Coordinators is at a high level as 32 signatures were collated on the first day alone and the numbers keep increasing by the hour.

 “This, only, is our confidence and hope that the supremacy of the constitution would triumph and the new leadership of NANS would be constitutionally sworn into office to only oversee the electioneering process on August 12, 2022.”