NUBASS schedules Nov.16 for election, says convention chairman

By Mohammed Kaka Misau

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The National Union of Bauchi State Students (NUBASS), an umbrella body of all Bauchi indigene students studying in various institutions in Nigeria and abroad has announced November 16th this year for the conduct of its general elections into various elective positions.

Comrade Ibrahim Buba, the Chairman, Convention Committee of the union gave the hint during a conference in Bauchi on Saturday.

According to him, the election which was scheduled to take place on 11th of November, was postponed due to some challenges encountered by the committee while sourcing for funds.

“Our lives were at stake, we were chased by some top officials, and a few of the unhappy aspirants”, he said.

“During the process of our preparation for funding, things came late and we decided to source for funding as authorized by the constitution. We were stopped and forced to leave the spots of sourcing.

“We respected the command and left to our meeting point anticipating their presence for a meeting with them on reasons why we shouldn’t source for any funding. We met and we were told not to source for any funding by saying we were not carrying them along.

“We were given the sum of N393,000 few days to the convention and we requested for the approval copy which was not given. On the day of the supposed convention, we were informed that the ground was overcrowded and thugs were sighted and some had been arrested by securities,” he said.

Buba added that it wasn’t safe for his committee to present themselves without security backup, adding that they were promised to be provided with security agents so as to convey the necessary materials and carry on with the convention.

“However, what we saw was one of the top officials of the union came to us and started campaigning and imposing a candidate on us, with a threat that if we fail to accept him, there would be consequences.

“We rejected the offer and came back to our rooms.

“That was when the threat began. We were forced out of our rooms, and thugs were waiting for us outside the hotel. We had to follow the hotel back door and escape because none of us slept in our homes.

“People are having concerns about the constitutional statement that 11-11 should be the actual convention date, but that was an oversight due to the impeachment of the previous president, Mahmud Abubakar, and the emergence of Salim Dandada.

“I urge the stakeholders who see this as our doing, to look at this issue and review their forgotten constitution,” he said.

The chairman, Convention Committee further revealed that in order to compensate the aspirants, it had given the grace of six to 10 days, adding that “our new date for this election will be on the 16th of November 2022, and all aspirants should be well prepared.

“We are therefore inviting all media houses to have full coverage of the election process for maximum credibility to be reached,” he stated.

Buba also called on the state governor, Bala Mohammed to intervene in the skirmishes going on within the union for peace to continue to reign.