The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has advised students not to be swayed by monetary gifts in voting candidates of their choices in the 2019 general elections.
Abdulrasaq Yusuff, the General Secretary of Lagos State chapter of NANS, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Epe on Wednesday.
The students’ scribe said it was time students stood for their right by ensuring that they voted the right people in positions of authority and shun the carrots desperate politicians might likely dangle before them to mortgage their future.
“Some politicians are looking for all available means to buy their way into governance and exploiting any avenue to clinch victory.
“The association has advised students not to be influenced by monetary gifts from politicians.
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“We advised them to vote according to their conscience and not to sell their rights or mortgage their future for a peanut,” he said.
On electoral violence or thuggery, Yusuff said NANS would resist any attempt by politicians to use its members for dirty jobs or to foment trouble to achieve their motives.
He appealed to politicians to refrain from politicising the student body in the various institutions, saying NANS will expose those involved.
He lamented the high cost of nomination forms by the political parties, noting that it has made a mockery of the Not-too- Young- to-Run Act.
“Certainly, such bogus fees are way out of the league of the young political aspirants.
“The political parties have demonstrated that they not have interest of youths and students at heart and by extension, the masses in their agenda.
“We will not be partisan but will stand for Nigerian students even as we pledge to work with government to see changes in the education sector,” he said.
While lamenting the poor budgetary allocation for education, he appealed to the federal government to urgently implement the 26 per cent recommended by UNESCO.
He, however, canvassed for free education at all levels in the country.