Election postponement: NANS suspends nationwide protest over alleged hijack

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has suspended its proposed nationwide protest initially scheduled for Monday over the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

NANS spokesperson, Azeez Adeyemi, told journalists in Abeokuta on Monday that the protest was suspended because of intelligence that politicians planned to hijack the protest.

The students’ body threatened to engage in a nationwide protest after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shifted elections on Saturday by one week.

Mr Adeyemi said: “I must say here, after going through all information in the public domain about the postponement of the presidential and national assembly elections, we have obviously seen that there is the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob in the hullabaloo.

“It is based on this premise, that we want to emphatically say that NANS is not a tool to settle a political issue. We say with utmost sincerity and seriousness of mind that we are not cowards and he who runs away from a fight, lives to fight another day.

“Information has it that some criminals sponsored by some enemies of our nation and human rights have planned to hijack the voice of the people.”