A student of the Federal University, Dutse and the acclaimed winner of the just-conducted controversial presidential election of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Usman Barambu, tells SOLOMON ODENIYI the poll was free and fair
How do you respond to the allegation by your rival, Umar Faruk, that the convention that produced you as NANS President was fraught with irregularities?
You know there is a process that must be followed before one can be declared as the winner of a contest. We did our best and the process was successful, which the media, security agencies, union presidents, all the six zonal coordinators, six out of the seven past presidents, past senate presidents and virtually all the executives of the last administration witnessed. They are alive and can be approached to authenticate my claims. We also had a video recording of the whole process. Faruk was there too and was involved in the process until when he realised he was going to lose and left. In every election, there must be a winner and a loser. Today, we are the winner, tomorrow we do not know if we would be among the winners but the ability to take winning or losing in good faith is the hallmark of a good leader. If that convention did not produce me as the president, I would have thanked my supporters and delegates and I would have gone back to my state to rest; I would know that at least I had done my best. Declaring oneself as factional president is only going to weaken the organisation and one will be a willing tool in the hands of some politicians.
Among other complaints, Faruk said the convention was unnecessarily prolonged to your advantage. Was that the case?
With this, he has agreed that there was a convention just that it was prolonged to frustrate him, according to what you are telling me now. I will tell you the truth; if there was anyone that should feel frustrated, it should be me. I accommodated 80 per cent of the delegates, paying for their hotel accommodation for seven days. The issue was that the accreditation, which was supposed to hold 48 hours before the election, was done through a portal that was opened and student union leaders registered. Also, physical registration was done as stipulated by the constitution. Faruk was among the people who proposed that the convention should be shifted because he was aware that I was accommodating a large number of the delegates. He made that proposition hoping that I would be tired and send the delegates out of their hotel rooms, so that he could use that against me. But Glory be to God, we were able to accommodate them till the end, although I am indebted the hotels as I speak.
What about the claim that you sent his student leader out of the voting venue?
His SUG president was not at the convention. He sent his General Secretary to represent him. All his excuses are flimsy; they will not work. The leaders decided that I should lead them for this period; look at the votes cast; I won with a landslide margin – 292 votes to the eight votes he had. There is a video evidence of the entire process, from the accreditation to voting and then counting. If you want to see it, we can make it available for you, so you can see how transparent we tried to make the election.
So far, this election is the best in the history of the association. There was no crisis or violence. If he says the student leaders gave him the mandate, ask him where is executives are. He is the only one parading himself as president, vice president and general secretary of his faction of NANS.
But he accused you of conniving with the convention committee to rig the election. Are you denying this?
He is a liar. Do you want to know why I got this huge number of votes? I will tell you what I did that worked for me. See, among the candidates, I was the only one that travelled to the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, to campaign. I did this within six months; you can ask the zonal coordinators. I spent two days in Ondo, met with the student leaders and other stakeholders. I met with their candidate, Babatunde Akintayo, and entered into an agreement with him before I left for Ekiti; then moved to Kwara. You cannot sit in a place and think one big politician will give you money to win the election. See, they prolonged the convention to frustrate me but I thank God, at least, the hotel managers were lenient with me. I am still sorting out the hotel bills as I speak to you.
You were accused of hiring delegates who voted for you. Did you?
You can ask the student leaders one after the other to confirm if they were at the convention and voted. I did not use ‘Toronto’ delegates as he claimed. I know the process that ushered me in. He was frustrated because the person he was expecting money from to prosecute the election disappointed him. He has forgotten that it not about having a lot of money to induce voters. Everywhere I spoke before the election I told them I didn’t have much to give but I have a lot to offer, if given the mandate. He has shot himself in the foot with the accusations and excuses he is coming up with. It shows he is not the one.
You were also said to have bribed voters and then induced other candidates, making them to step down for you. How do you react to that?
The two frontline candidates that stepped down for me did not get any money from me. I couldn’t afford paying them off because they had also spent much (money) to get to that stage. What happened was alignment. One was offered to be my secretary if he stepped down and he did. Also, we reached some level of agreements with the second candidate that stepped down for me because I knew that with my merger with him I was sure of victory. He agreed and handed me his loyalist contesting for other positions and we incorporated him into our structure.
Did you buy votes or not?
How can I buy votes? Do I have such money? In fact, I was worried and thinking about how I would sort out hotel bills. Who gave us money? He should mention their names. If there’s anyone sympathetic to any political party, it is Faruk. He has been seen going to the two major parties in the country.
