Governorship aspirants in the 2015 race in Delta State may have a hotter atmosphere to contend with, as students in tertiary institutions under the aegis of the Joint Campuses Committee (JCC Abuja Axis) of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have vowed to work for Barrister Festus Keyamo towards realising his ambition to dethrone the political cabal in the state and govern the state.
The declaration was made last Wednesday by officials of NANS when they paid a courtesy visit to Keyamo in his Abuja office. According to the students, they had come to visit the human rights lawyer cum activist in other to identify with his governorship ambition and assure him of the maximum support of all Nigerian students.
The students who represented various institutions, said the decision to identify with Keyamo’s struggle in Delta State was taken at the 66th senate meeting of NANS which held at the Benue State Univerity, Makurdi. Over 200 presidents of Students Union Governments (SUG) in various tertiary institutions had attended the meeting following which the Abuja axis of the JCC took the initiative to embark on the solidarity visit.
The students were led on the visit by Omoba Michael, Odih Sampson, Kate Michael, Isaiah Ernest, Adamu Majid, Yahaya Ismaila, Peter Bassey, all representing University of Abuja, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Federal Polytechnics, Bida and Nassarawa.
Speaking in a manner that suggested a ‘pay-back-time’, the students leaders told Keyamo that as someone who had fought several battles for Nigerian students at various times in the past, it was now their turn to stand by him in his struggle to flush out the cabal in the State and occupy Government House in Asaba.
In their words, “we have come to partner and work with you to achieve victory. We want to encourage you as you cannot work alone in this battle, because over the years, you stood by our members in the various battles and challenges with the authorities, right from your days at the Gani Fawehinmi Chambers’’.
“You have a long history of standing by students in their travails. Now it is our turn to stand by you. All the students and youths across the country are proud of you and it is significant that in spite of your achievements over the years, you still identify with us. We still see you as a youth and one of us.”
Though, the governorship election is still far and personalities within the students leadership may have changed positions by 2015, yet they said the JCC of NANS as a body has endorsed Keyamo’s candidature and promised that with its contacts and tentacles, it would be easy to work for him as NANS would mobilise all its members in Delta State to campaign for him.
Sounding quite selfless in their mission towards supporting the human rights lawyer, the student leaders told Keyamo that “we have not come to ask you for money or ask you to empower us in any way towards realising your governorship ambition. With the little we have, we are prepared to work for you to actualize your ambition.”
Recalling with nostalgia Keyamo’s historical relationship with students, NANS officials cited an instance where the activist secured the release of a Delta State student in Adamawa State free of charge. The student had been arrested and detained wrongfully at the time.
To further buttress their confidence in the governorship aspirant and show appreciation for his concern for students, NANS officials presented him with a certificate of credence and a plaque. Making the presentation, Chairman of the JCC, University of Abuja Chapter, Omoba Michael said “We have always been at ease whenever we remember Festus Keyamo because he is somebody we can always run to in time of trouble. We have come to support you as mark of our appreciation for standing by us in the past.”
Lending support to Omoba’s statement, the National President, National Association of Nigeria Universities Students, Comrade Peter Bassey said the students would team up with Delta Forces United (DFU) for Keyamo to realize his ambition.
As they sang joyfully in the aluta fashion, reiterating their support, Keyamo who was emotionally humbled was quite appreciative of the visit. He promised the students that he and his team were in this battle to free Deltans from the shackles of a clique which has held the state hostage for years.
He traced the history to 1999 when those who fought for democracy allowed those who never fought for it to seize the initiative to seek political offices. According to him, “now is the time to rightfully reclaim the mandate to govern, stressing that what we have in Delta State is absolute monarchy.”
He promised that his team would tear down the walls of “this monarchy” and free the political space in the state for all credible Deltans to come out and seek political offices. He concluded that “it is not all about Keyamo but all Deltans.”
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