Students Pass Vote of No Confidence on Yar Adua

Ayokunle Oloye Student Groups in Nigeria have passed a vote of no confidence on president Umaru Yar’Adua led administration for failing to resolve the crisis rocking the education sector. The student group lead by Education right Campaign ERC, include Coalition of Radical Students Unions CORASU, Committee of Students’ union President COSUP among others said the seven point agenda is a seven pointless agenda meant to deepen poverty and misery of the Nigerian working masses, youth and students. The student however declare October first a day of national mass action and demonstration protest against federal government refusal to sign agreement with university lecturers under ASSU. ERC national coordinator Hassan Taiwo Soweto said “against federal government refusal to meet the demands of the striking unions as well as the death of public education, we regard the Independence Day celebration as a shameless display of a focus less, visionless and failed government”. Soweto however call on Nigerian students, youths, workers labour leaders to shun government independence day celebration as a sign of public rejection of the government anti-poor policy of the past 49 years and particularly as a vote of no confidence on the Yar’Adua government. The protest which will hold in Lagos and Benin , Soweto called on Nigerian students and youths to also organize similar action every were they can. The groups also want the federal government to pay every student 40,000 as cost of studying allowance in tertiary institution . While the distant themselves from the recent plan to kidnap the minister of Education Dr Sam Egwu and his Labour counterpart Prince Adetokunbo Ademola as part of struggle of freedom of the education section although the group called for immediate removal of the ministers. The group however said “we don’t believe in kidnap, bombings, assassination or any form of individual terrorism as a method of struggle in keeping with Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s death wish call for the immediate removal of Sam Egwu for gross incompetence demonstrated in his poor handling of the on-going strike. We will not dwell on the easily deducible facts that the kidnap if, it was ever attempted, was not induced by any political motive nor one as honourable as resolving the ongoing strike but by cold financial calculations of demanding ransom. As far as we are concerned, it is the opulent lifestyle of corrupt Ministers like Sam Egwu and Adetokunbo Kayode who habitually flaunt stolen wealth in the face of mass poverty that is responsible for this and other kidnaps that have happened. But the Federal government wants to use this to blackmail the striking unions and Nigerian students. we only believe in mass action, peaceful protest and demonstrations and this is the method of struggle that will soon consign the Nigerian exploitive capitalist ruling class to the dustbin of history”