The election of officials of the National Association of Kogi State Students, NAKOSS, today ended in controversy as many of the aspirants boycotted it, alleging government interference.
While the one conducted and supervised by government agents at the State stadium produced one Usman Ahmed from Lokoja Local Government Area of the State (400 Level, Economics Student of Kogi State University, Anyigba) another group was rumored to have held a parallel election at an undisclosed venue.
A source said that the unfortunate situation started when some Stakeholders of NAKOSS, zoned to Western Senatorial District and particularly to Lokoja/Koto the position of President to avoid tension, which has been a negative characteristic of the convention over the years.
But the zonings by the stakeholders were now alleged to have been hijacked by the government apparatus who singlehandedly picked Ahmed for president; a decision that did not go down well with other aspirants.
One of the presidential aspirants, Idris Girinya, has called for the cancelation of both elections which he described as Kangaroo, insisting that the election of Ahmed contravened both the electoral act and constitution of the student body.
Girinya spoke through the DG of his campaign organisation, Abdullahi Ismaila. He said aside contravening the electoral act, the ‘government’ candidate who is in the last semester of his education career was not qualified to contest in the first instance.
“This union has a constitution and an electoral act which serves as a guideline for proper electoral conducts and peaceful processes. But unfortunately, these legal documents were not followed.
“The selection of one Usman Ahmed as the NAKOSS President by some selected persons on the 21st December is null and void; as he (Ahmed) do not fulfill any of the electoral act and the constitutional requirement.
The aspirant also said the electoral and advisory committee as well as the reconciliation committee for the convention was not put in place, while the rights of the aspirants were thwarted by the stakeholders acting the scripts of government agents.
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