The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Olusola Ladoja, says he remained the only legitimate, and globally recognised leader of the body.
According to a statement on Wednesday, Ladoja insisted that there is no factional leadership in NANS, saying the purported claim of a parallel NANS President as laughable and a pitiable display of imposture.
“It is, therefore, necessary to place on public record that Comrade Olusola Ladoja remains the sole, legitimate, and globally recognised President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), having emerged through a transparent, democratic, and widely monitored electoral process,” he said.
READ ALSO: ICPC Probes Disbursement Of Student Loan, Says ₦71bn Unaccounted For
Ladoja noted that Atiku, who did not participate in the last convention that ushered in new leadership of the organisation, continued parading himself as President.
He described the act as a violation and impersonation, which shall be met with the full weight of legal and moral consequences.
See the full statement below:
RE: SAHARA REPORTERS’ FABRICATED PUBLICATION ON NANS LEADERSHIP AND PRESIDENT’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) wishes to categorically repudiate, with utmost clarity and firmness, the mendacious and deliberately misleading report disseminated by Sahara Reporters on April 30, 2025, regarding the inauguration and inaugural address of the duly elected President of NANS, Comrade Olusola Ladoja, GCNS.
To begin with, the publication in question is a vile concoction, steeped in half-truths and malevolent distortions, and is nothing short of a disinformation campaign meticulously orchestrated to sow seeds of discord within the Nigerian student constituency and to impugn the integrity of our noble association.
To this end, we state, without equivocation, that the content attributed to our President’s address is a blatant falsification. The address delivered by Comrade Olusola Ladoja which was witnessed by the entirety of our statutory stakeholders, dignitaries from relevant ministries, and broadcast live by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), was one anchored on hope, unity, pragmatic engagement, and a clear roadmap towards revitalizing campus security and student welfare across the federation.
Therefore, the spurious rhetoric attributed to him by Sahara Reporters exists only in the imaginations of those desperate to discredit our emerging ideological shift away from sensationalism towards responsible activism.
Moreover, we must stress for the umpteenth time that there is no factional leadership in NANS. The purported claim of a parallel president in the person of one Atiku Abubakar Isah is both laughable and a pitiable display of imposture. The said individual did not participate in the last convention that ushered in the new leadership of the organization.
Thus, his continued parade as “President” is a gross violation and impersonation which shall be met with the full weight of legal and moral consequence.
It is, therefore, necessary to place on public record that Comrade Olusola Ladoja remains the sole, legitimate, and globally recognized President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), having emerged through a transparent, democratic, and widely monitored electoral process. Hence, attempts by Sahara Reporters to lend credence to falsehoods and confer legitimacy on a non-existent faction is both disgraceful and a dangerous affront to journalistic ethics.
This unconscionable pattern of reportage by Sahara Reporters, spearheaded by Mr. Omoyele Sowore, reveals a deep-seated vendetta against the leadership of NANS — one seemingly motivated by our principled departure from needless street agitations and pseudo-radicalism in favour of intellectual dialogue, institutional engagement, and solution-driven advocacy. We are not unaware of Mr. Sowore’s frustration, given that NANS has distanced itself from protests orchestrated solely to serve his parochial interests under the guise of activism.
While we are staunch defenders of press freedom, we unequivocally reject the abuse of such freedom as a cover for propaganda, falsehood, and character assassination. Let it be known: Sahara Reporters is fast degenerating into an echo chamber of lies, a megaphone for mediocrity, and a danger to responsible journalism.
Consequently, we issue this as a final caution — if Sahara Reporters and its collaborators do not desist from their habitual publication of falsehoods against this organization and its leadership, we shall deploy every institutional mechanism and internal modus operandi with which the organization addresses and resolves such infractions, as may be necessary to hold them accountable. Note that this may resort to “Maximum Shishi”
Let no one labour under the illusion of invincibility; the days of unchallenged impunity are over.
In the meantime, we urge the public, stakeholders, and the international community to disregard the aforementioned publication in its entirety. It is fiction masquerading as news, and utterly devoid of credibility.
Thank you.
Yours in nation-building,
Comr. Olusola Ladoja, GCNS
President, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)
