NANS President, Senate President Berate Sahara Reporters Over 'Christmas gift' story

President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Comrade Sunday Asefon has berated an online medium, Sahara Reporters over reports of Leadership crisis and infighting over politician’s Christmas gift.

Earlier, Sahara Reporters had published a story that the NANS leadership is currently enmeshed in a crisis over a ‘Christmas gift’ given to the group by an unnamed politician.

According to Sahara Reporters, the gift was shared by the President, Sunday Asefon, and other members of the executive, leaving out members of the legislative arm.

However, while reacting to the story in an interview with our correspondent on Monday evening, the NANS President described the story as untrue.

He said: ”Sahara Reporter is not a news platform that anyone should take serious. I understand students' activism very well. So, I don’t care about SaharaReporters.

"They claimed I am a civil servant but can not come out to mention the ministry where I am working up till now. They also said I am 47 years when my elder sister is not 40 yet. So, who is Sahara Reporters? Do they have an office? I have told them I will never grant Sahara Reporters interview.

“I have been in my state before Christmas. I am in my house. So I don’t know what gift they are talking about. My governor or any politician didn’t give anybody anything. So who is now giving Nigerian students Christmas gift that we are now fighting on?.”

Similarly, the NANS Senate President, Comrade Chuks Okafor has described the report credited to Sahara Reporters as frivolous unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, baseless and unfounded. 

The Senate President stated this in a statement issued and made available to our correspondent on Monday evening. Comrade Okafor emphasised that there is no existing leadership crisis in the association since its December 4th, 2020 unity convention. Maintaining that such crisis only exists in the imagination of the authors of the "empty and desolate story". 

Part of the statement reads; "that the Senate President of NANS, is too pre-occupied at the moment to begin to think of any Christmas gift from the so called "politician". By God's grace, the current leadership of NANS, is not ready to look for any crumbs from the tables of politicians in Nigeria as they are deeply committed to how best the Nigerian Students who have lost a lot in the just concluded ASUU strike action, could get back to school amidst the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic;

"We thus, want to warn these elements to desist from misinforming the students and general public as no Christmas gift was provided by any politician. If any, let them mention names and show evidence of such claims or be more clever by employing their tactics for the betterment of our well-being". 

While reiterating that the NANS Senate Leadership will no longer invest energy into giving undue response to faceless news outlets like Sahara Reporters, he urged the Students community and general public to disregard the "cretinous, unnecessary and jaundiced story"