By Ado Hassan, Sokoto
WEEKS after Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal changed political platform from the All Progressives Congress(APC) to opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), umbrella bodies of indigenous students association of Sokoto state origin have also opened a new leaf of division among themselves.
This development, informed a resistant coalition under the auspices of ‘Concerned Sokoto State Students ‘ to react against those campaigning for the governor, insisting that they have no right of representation on behalf of students in the state.
However, the coalition on Wednesday said officials of the Federation of Sokoto State Students Association, have no mandate to represent the interest of students in the state.
The coalition, representing all tertiary institutions across the state, said in a press statement issued in Sokoto, that recent directive by the federation stopping students from active politics was illegitimate.
The statement was signed by Abdulrashid Dange of Sokoto State University; Aminu Aliyu, Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic; Bashar Kware, Shehu Shagari College of Education.
Others are; Abubakar Shehu, Sultan Abdulrahaman School of Health Gwadabawa, and Abdulhameed Mohammed, Usman Danfodio University Sokoto.
According to the coalition, “Only legally elected executives have the capacity and right constitutionally to represent or voice out a word in respect of the students.
“In the case of FOSSOSA, it is a group of some students nominated by the state government to protect its interest through false accusations and propaganda.”
The statement further noted that , the government of Aminu Tambuwal of three and a quarter years had performed woefully and has nothing to show as fulfillment of the desires of Sokoto state students within and outside the country.
“As legitimate students in various tertiary institutions within and outside the country, we hereby condemn the group who paraded themselves as FOSSOSA executives.
“We also want to clarify our stand on the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari, Sen. Aliyu Wamakko and APC for the coming 2019 general elections,” it added.
Last Monday, FOSOSSA President, Abubakar Basakkwace, accused some section of the students body of discrediting the administration of Tambuwal.
He dismissed as false, claims by some of the students that Tambuwal’s administration had done nothing to the students, stressing that a lot was achieved in the area of education and skills development for youths in the state.