NANS president escapes assassination attempt in Jos

A display of the internal rife and politicking in NANS.

The President of the National Association of Nigerian Student, NANS, Yinka Gbadebo, has said he escaped an assassination in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Mr. Gbadebo said a gang of about 24 armed men stormed the Rayfield area of Jos on Thursday at about 7:30 a.m. in the evening with a mission to kill; but since they did not locate him, they went ahead to kidnap one Dimeji Azeez, a student of the University of Ibadan.

While addressing journalists on Friday in Jos, Mr. Gbadebo accused one Prince Miaphen, one of the aspirants who contested the position of NANS presidency last year during the convention of the students’ body held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, of being the mastermind.

“Prince Miaphen sent a group of assassins after me and my entourage on Thursday 7th Feb, 2013. The assassins arrived Rayfied area in Jos at about 7:30 a.m. with guns and matchete but they couldn’t locate me. Unfortunately, they kidnapped one of my colleagues, comrade Dimeji Azeez of the University of Ibadan,” he said.

Mr. Gbadebo added that despite coming 7th out of 12 candidates in the election, Mr. Miaphen has been parading himself as the elected president of NANS.

The union leader said he got 32 votes out of the total votes cast during the convention to emerge President of the Association, while Mr. Miaphen got 18 votes.

“Prince Miaphen is hereby declared persona non grata on all Nigerian Institutions of higher learning,” he declared.

Mr. Gbadebo said the matter has been reported to the State Security Services, SSS and the Police, adding that one of the culprits has already been apprehended by security agents, and has made useful statements to them.

The NANS leader also noted that, apart from the kidnapped person, the gang also inflicted injuries on some of his association’s members, and vandalised a brand new bus donated to NANS about two weeks ago by the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.

He told journalists that the vandalised bus has been taken by the SSS as part of evidence.

NANS therefore gave a seven-day ultimatum to security agents to bring the culprits and their sponsors to book. The association said if the ultimatum elapses, they will resort to self help in order to bring Prince Miaphen to Justice.

They also urged the Plateau State Government to purchase a new bus for the association since Mr. Miaphen hails from the state.