09/12/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NANCES CONDEMNS ATTEMPTED MARGINALISATION OF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION CANDIDATE IN NANS ZONE F CONVENTION
The National Association of Nigeria Colleges of Education Students (NANCES) has received with deep concern the ongoing attempts to sideline and deliberately marginalise a duly qualified College of Education student participating as a candidate in the forthcoming NANS Zone F Convention in person of Comrade Juliet Obinta.
We state emphatically and without ambiguity that we will not fold our hands and watch any individual or group disenfranchise a student of any College of Education from contesting, participating, or benefitting from the democratic structures of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
NANS remains the umbrella body of all Nigerian students, irrespective of institution type—be it university, polytechnic, monotechnic, or college of education. As long as you are studying in a recognised tertiary institution in Nigeria, you are fully entitled to vote and be voted for. No organ or bloc of NANS has the authority to intimidate or suppress the political rights of another.
It is important to remind all stakeholders that history bears witness to the fact that leadership in NANS has never been limited to a particular institution or category. A prominent example is Comrade Lucky Emonefe, who rose from a College of Education to become President of NANS. If a College of Education student could lead the entire Nigerian student body at the national level, then it is baseless, discriminatory, and completely unacceptable for anyone to claim that a College of Education student cannot aspire to or emerge as Coordinator of a Zone.
NANCES therefore calls on all College of Education students across the South-East and the entire Zone F to stand united, rise in solidarity, and defend our collective mandate. We must resist every form of intimidation, suppression, or foreseen marginalisation targeted at our candidate or our constituency.
We remain committed to a fair, democratic and inclusive NANS where every student has equal opportunity to participate and serve.
An injury to one College of Education student is an injury to all.
Comr. Kur Isaac Ushahemba,
NANCES President