Fracas at APC Secretariat over NANS Election

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The election of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) scheduled to hold today practically turned the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a battle ground, yesterday, following the fracas that ensued between two rival groups vying for leadership of the association.

Trouble started, when the security details of the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdulahi Adamu,  acting on his order, tried to stop NANS members from gaining access into the ongoing National Working Committee (NWC) meeting.

It was at this point that the security personnel guarding the headquarters went physical, including brute force on the disgruntled NANS members at the secretariat to brief the party’s leadership on its election recently.

As part of a desperate effort to restore normalcy, the  police released several canisters of teargas to disperse the angry NANS members, sending the secretariat staff to scamper to safety.

It was gathered that Segun Dada, an aspirant to the position of National Youth Leader, who stepped down for the current youth leader, Dayo Israel, had led a delegation to brief the party’s leadership over the NANS election.

A party source revealed that Dada was at the secretariat, on the directive of the youth leader, to meet the leadership during the NWC meeting and brief them on how the elements of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in APC planned to hijack the election.

The source said: “Dada’s attempt and desperation to force his way with his delegation resulted in the police using teargas on him and others, which infuriated them, leading to the situation becoming rowdy.

“The surprising thing is that Dada is not a stranger at the secretariat, because he worked for some years here. But, he was not however diplomatic in handling the situation otherwise it would not have degenerated into the extent of using several canisters of teargas to disperse them.

“Yes, Dada was on genuine mission to brief the leadership on how PDP elements in APC have hijacked the election, as directed by the youth leader. But what we cannot understand was why he came with those hefty boys that fought the security agents. It was bad that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the party was molested by those boys that came with Dada.”

However, it was further gathered that the fracas was an extension of the cold war between Adamu and Tinubu from NANS factions loyal to them.

According to another source, “One of the candidates for today’s election, Umar Farouk from BUK Kano is Tinubu’s choice, while Usman Baba Kankia from ABU Zaria is the initial choice of Abullahi Adamu and the presidency.

“However, Usman Baranbu Federal University Dutse is the popular choice of student leaders and stakeholders. So, what happened at the secretariat was a display of forces and a dress rehearsal and litmus test of what to expect during Thursday’s NANS election.”