NANs issues new Ultimatum over murder of ex-LASU activist
By Modupe Shodeinde
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Friday issued a fresh ultimatum to the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to its demands concerning the death of a former student activist.
In a statement by its chairman, Samuel Olalere, the students’ body disclosed extension of the initial ultimatum till Monday due to interventions from “eminent personalities.”
NANS had earlier issued a three-day ultimatum to Sanwo-Olu to meet a five-point demand which includes setting up a panel of inquiry to probe the death of a Nurudeen Alowonle, popularly known as Omomeewa, a former student activist of the Lagos State University (LASU) who was shot close to the school gate.
Mr Alowonle, a former students’ union presidential aspirant and Lagos coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), was shot dead in a robbery attack last week, few hours after he appeared before a disciplinary panel set up to probe his alleged involvement in “admission racketeering.”
The 2019 graduate of Educational Management was shot alongside a school staff, Waheed Majekodunmi, also known as Majek.
Mr Olalere said “it is on this lasting note that we sternly promise that if at the close of Monday 30th of August 2021, no public statement is made by His Excellency and no tangibly real evidence visible to the general student public of this state that these demands are being met, we will do what we deem needful.
“We promise to keep the student public abreast of the progress made as they unfold but if the demands are not met within the above set timeframes, heaven will kiss the earth in Lagos State without falling.”
Mr Olalere said they received “an avalanche of deeply remorseful appeals” from numerous public office holders in the state pleading for more patience with the governor.
“We got a lot of calls and intermediary roles of intervention played by some eminent personalities both in the government and educational sphere, people of influence and affluence, to see how our demands can be met and actualized on the petra of negotiations which was one of the tenets of our slain comrade.”
Mr Olalere expressed gratitude to Mr Sanwo-Olu for initiating the process to ensure that the killers of Mr Alonwonle’s are apprehended and made to face the law
The group, however, said they are not entirely swayed by these “seemingly positive and promising indicators towards engendering our earnest demands.”
“We are realists who believe in words backed up by real purposeful and decisive a ions because we have been conned, manipulated, cajole, deceived, swindled, robbed, raped, and left stupefied in very similar stratagems in time past by the same goverment,” he said.
“We hence refuse to accept any of these acts and news of mere preparations as conclusive evidence that our demands will be met.”
