NANS president: Uncouth activism

I watched the NANS president miss a rare occasion last night.

I watched him in a tirade while speaking to the education minister. Rather than calmly marshaling out his points and taking the minister to task, he rather started playing to the gallery and pouring out a whole lot of garbage in the process

His mannerisms, his mode of dressing, and his tone all suggested a lack of respect for authority, misplaced aggression, and near shallow grasp of the issues in the sector he claims to be a leader

So he covers his emptiness with verbal violence which got the minister rightfully upset leading to his walkout.

I will do the same. Rather than sit down there and watch a minion pour garbage on me, mixed with outright lies and near abuse, I will relinquish that leadership position. I will not be that kind of leader.

You see my point here is that student activism in modern times should outgrow the activism of the 80s which was fit for that time- military despotism.

Today, we have a refined society; a student population that is exposed and outwardly engaging. It must, therefore, throw up representatives who perfectly encapsulates the modern-day student

This one we saw that day didn’t look like a modern-day student to me and that is why his message was lost on not only the minister but a lot of us watching.

Yes, we know that our leaders must always be at the receiving end because of their unpopularity but this was too much. This was a shame to the student population.

This was the kernel of my last discussion with Omoyele Sowore. I had asked him if he was coming out again following rumors I was hearing. He confirmed it and we went into a brief discussion. I told him he had to come out with a little bit more sophistication.

He had to drop the abusive and activist mien and soften his image so that he can attract a more resourceful demographic into his campaign

The “DSS is chasing me” mantra will only serve to push away those who would have loved to come in but would be afraid of being caught up in what is looking like an unending drama.

Did he listen? I doubt as we ended that conversation and I went about my daily chores.

So that was what we saw that day. The Sowore variant of activism got him nowhere. He accused the minister of having a child graduate from a foreign university — false. He made a lot of empty accusations and only ended up repeating used and tired mantras. He just was not ready or prepared for the meeting.

When the minister walked out, they burst out in the expected and now boring song — “solidarity……“.

We all sang the song and we all shouted the Aluta and what did it give us? Our students should calm down, pull back and better prepare before engaging power and society.

We can win whatever war we are fighting by simply changing tactics and being better prepared. The NANS I saw that day was just a NANS that was led by ‘alagbara‘ and not deeply prepared leaders who could better engage in a sophisticated manner.

NANS could have done better.

My two pence.