The members, in a statement they put out, accused Usman of ineptitude, docility and absconding from duty in the face of injustice and direct affront to the survival of Nigerian students and Nigerians at large.
An internal crisis is brewing in the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) after a group of members demanded the immediate resignation of the association’s President, Comrade Usman Umar Barambu over “incompetence and lack of capacity.”
The members led by one Umar Farouk Gazali, Convener, NANS Integrity Group, noted that the apex Nigerian students' body had been an integral part of struggle for the emancipation of the common people of the country.
The members, in a statement they put out, accused Usman of ineptitude, docility and absconding from duty in the face of injustice and direct affront to the survival of Nigerian students and Nigerians at large.
The statement read in part; "We want to use this medium to apologise to all Nigerian students both at home and abroad and well-meaning citizens of this nation for the lack of foresight and vision by the current leadership of NANS led by Comrade Usman Umar Barambu.
"The apex Nigerian students' body has been an integral part of struggle for the emancipation of the common people of this nation, this can be seen from its action against the "Defence Pact of 1963" where the colonial masters wanted to establish British military camps across the length and breadth of the country, the "Ali Must Go Struggle" of 1978 against the increment of feeding fee across federal tertiary institutions, the vehement fight against "Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)" of General Babangida, struggle against the "Annulment of June 12 Election" 1993, the 2012 "Occupy Nigeria" a struggle against the removal of fuel subsidy and the 2022 "End ASUU Strike Movement", just to mention a few. These are the tenets for which an ideological association like NANS is known for and known to act upon.
"We are perplexed and disappointed that since his emergence as the President of National Association of Nigerian Students through a popular vote, Umar Usman Barambu has acted below expectations and failed on his manifesto which has rendered the organisation headless and voiceless in the comity of student movement and the struggle for the liberation of the downtrodden and the less privileged.
"In fact, he has failed in all ramifications which when further exhumed can be identified as follows; failure to intervene in the lingering scarcity of fuel, the biting cashless policy, incessant increment of tuition fee by management of various tertiary institutions across the country and the invasion of University of Benin by military men which led to the brutalisation of many students of the academic tower earlier this year.
"All these lingering issues have received little or no concern from the President of the world’s largest black Students movement.
"You are all aware that the scarcity of fuel and the cashless policy of the federal government has affected Nigerian students in no small measure, which one of its many effects was seen in the deprivation of many Nigerian students from carrying out their civic responsibility and right of voting in the 2023 national elections due to unavailability of cash and the hike in transportation fares, a fall out of the afore mentioned economic issues currently bedevilling the nation.
"Just as we have identified the struggles championed by NANS leadership in the past and the enumerated some of the contemporary issues failed to be attended to by the Usman Umar Barambu led NANS, we are left with no option than to demand for the immediate resignation of Barambu for his ineptitude, docility and absconding from duty in the face of injustice and direct affront to the survival of Nigerian students and Nigerians at large.”
"Any organisation without proper direction is bound to lose its sense of focus from its core objectives and values and as we know, everything rises and falls on leadership. Obviously, Comr. Barambu has failed to give the necessary leadership and direction to NANS at this trying times, as such we are lunching the #BarambuMustGo campaign, which is part of our action plan towards seeing an end to his ineffective leadership, misrepresentation of the association and the return of NANS to its pride of place as the mouthpiece of Nigerian students and the general populace," the statement added.