Emonefe Not Qualified To Be NANS President – Obi

The factional president-elect of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Pedro Obi, has opened up on the controversy surrounding his emergence in the last election.

Naija News reports that Obi, the PhD student of Guidance and Counseling studies at Delta State University, who was recently elected as the new President, in an interview with PUNCH, said the constitution clearly states he is eligible to contest for the election against the insinuation in some quarters that he is not qualified to contest.

According to him, his rival Lucky Emonefe, the preferred candidate of the President’s son, Seyi Tinubu, is not even qualified to contest in the election, stressing he is not a known student in any tertiary institution in Nigeria.

Obi further claimed that Lucky does not have a degree and challenged him to provide his Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission letter and degree result.

He said, “The current NANS constitution was adopted at the Sokoto Congress in February 2022. There are over ten people who have expressed interest in the NANS presidency, but I want to tell you that we are just two that are qualified. Article 15, sub-section 2, under eligibility to contest, stated it clearly.

“I am currently a PhD student at Delta State University, Abraka, and the constitution provides that I am eligible. Again, the constitution makes it clear in Paragraph 5, which states that only students with a track record of verifiable experience shall be eligible to contest for President and Senate President.

“Such a person must have attended at least three national senate meetings and have held offices at the zonal and national levels, including standing committees. None of these people claiming the presidency of NANS has held any office in NANS before. I was a former PRO, Zonal Coordinator, and former deputy Senate President. Ordinarily, we shouldn’t be talking about whether he (Lucky) had a stake or not because, ab initio, he is not even qualified.

“Yes, I told you that he is not also a student of any known institution in Nigeria. Imagine that it was said that Lucky completed his National Diploma in 2003, about 20 years ago, and now he is claiming to be studying for NCE. What does that tell you? It shows that he is not a graduate.

“He doesn’t have a degree. If he had, he would have tendered a degree to at least serve this organisation. Today, you cannot claim to be a student at the school he claimed without JAMB. Can they ask him to provide his JAMB admission letter? You cannot just go to one institution and claim studentship because you have a relationship there, and the school will cover you up.”