A group of stakeholders within Nigeria’s student movement has written an open letter to Bola Tinubu, alleging large-scale corruption and criminal infiltration in the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
In the letter dated Wednesday, the petitioners alleged that the Minister for Youth Development, Ayodele Wisdom; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, Asefon Sunday Dayo; and two former NANS leaders, Akinteye Babatunde and Lucky Emonefe, diverted federal government interventions intended for students.
Central to the petition are claims that about 50 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses donated by the Federal Government to ease transportation on tertiary campuses were diverted.
According to the letter, some of the buses were allegedly shared among individuals, retained for private commercial use or sold outright instead of being deployed to campuses. The group said only a few of the vehicles can be traced within student communities, while others remain unaccounted for.
The petitioners urged the President to order an immediate audit to determine the total number and present location of the buses and to recover any found to have been wrongfully diverted.
Beyond the buses, the group alleged that funds raised in the name of organising NANS conventions were mismanaged, leaving delegates stranded without accommodation and logistics despite reportedly substantial mobilisation.
The letter also claimed that government-facilitated employment opportunities meant for former student leaders were either sold for millions of naira or allocated to associates with no record of student activism.
In addition, the petitioners raised concerns about the alleged sale of food palliatives intended for indigent students during festive and fasting periods.
In a more serious allegation, the group accused one of the aspirants for the 2026 NANS presidency, Akinteye Babatunde, of links to an international cyber fraud network, commonly referred to as “yahoo yahoo”.
They further alleged that individuals connected to the aspirant use NANS-branded number plates on luxury vehicles to evade scrutiny from security agencies.
The petition warned that invoking the name of the President and his son, Seyi Tinubu, in internal NANS politics could damage the Presidency’s image.
According to the group, some actors allegedly claim endorsement from the Presidency to influence convention outcomes and suppress opposition candidates.
The petitioners urged President Tinubu to direct anti-corruption and security agencies to
conduct a full audit of all CNG buses donated to NANS, investigate allocation of government-linked employment opportunities, probe alleged diversion of convention funds, examine claims of cybercrime involving leadership aspirants, ensure individuals with alleged criminal records are not shielded.
They argued that the student movement — once a formidable force during Nigeria’s military era is now facing what they described as a “crisis of credibility”.
The letter framed the controversy as a defining moment for student unionism, warning that failure to act could deepen distrust among Nigeria’s over 40 million students.
