In what many Nigerians describe as a deliberate attempt to cow the citizens to submission ahead of the 2027 general elections, there is a gale of defections from the opposition parties, and endorsements by some governors and political office holders yet to officially defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there is the likelihood that Nigeria’s democracy is taking a different turn, giving the President’s penchant for bulldozing his way through a subservient legislature and conquered judiciary, what with his son, Seyi Tinubu’s gargantuan financial cum political influence as well as his ambition to occupy the Government House, Alausa Lagos come 2027, which results in his alleged meddlesomeness in the affairs of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)
By Edu Abade
This is not the best of times for Nigeria, the most populous black country in Africa. Fueled by inordinate ambition, sheer desperation to bestride the nation and capture its huge resources exacerbated by greed and what have you, politicians of all hue and cry, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seem determined to leave the country far worse than they met it.
But there is a surfeit of instances to drive home the fact that beauty, wealth, political and economic power and other virtues and even vices remain transient only as those who are fortunate to have them remain alive.
Through history, William Shakespeare had cautioned in one of his famous works-Hamlet-that men should ‘assume some virtue even if they have it not,’ but this solemn literary admonition has not been heeded by Nigerian politicians, particularly the first family and his ilk in the legislature, judiciary and other government departments in the last two years.
Following recent developments in Nigeria’s political arena in which political office holders have defied and jettisoned all moral justifications and ideals, betraying their parties and are currently engaged in a rare spree of defections from their political parties that brought them into office, there remains little or no hope for Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.
To make matters worse, the man who now holds sway as Nigeria’s President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who started off as a dogged pro-democracy fighter, has now transmuted to what most Nigerians now see as an anti-democratic behemoth.
In recent times, apart from declaring a State of Emergency in the oil-rich Rivers State in what many political pundits see as an attempt to capture the state ahead of the 2027 presidential election, and with the collusion of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a former governor of the state, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, he (Tinubu) suspended the Governor Siminalayi Fubara, an action the Ijaw nation of mostly South-South region, have tagged a move to deprive them of the privilege of governing the state in decades.
Be that as it may, feelers from the presidency indicate that following Fubara’s suspension in the heat of his power tussle with Wike, a deal has been purportedly struck to coerce Fubara to defect from the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a precondition for his reinstatement in a matter of months.
If President Tinubu is laying an ugly precedence for Nigeria’s democracy, it is his penchant for dictating the pace in his purported home state of Lagos, where he still calls the shots even as president of the country. A recent incident that gave vent to that assertion is his insistence that the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Right Honourable Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, who was impeached by majority of the members of the House, be reinstated.
Also in the build up to the 2027 general elections, Seyi Tinubu, son and heir apparent to the Tinubu Dynasty, is showing vested interest in running for the governorship of Lagos State as with Obasa, who was said to be temporarily hounded out of office due to his ambition before he was reinstated by the President.
Following Obasa’s removal in January in his absence, his supporters had poured out on the streets of Agege, demanding his reinstatement, to which President Tinubu promptly granted in defiance of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), a Lagos State government’s think tank.
Curiously, in a revelation that has generated nationwide outrage and intensified the leadership crisis rocking the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Atiku Abubakar Isah, the embattled President of the association, has accused the younger Tinubu of orchestrating his recent abduction, torture and forced resignation following his refusal of an alleged N100 million bribe.
In a viral video confession released recently on the social media, Isah narrated how he was abducted on April 15, 2025, shortly after filing a formal complaint at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja regarding threats to his life. He claimed the abduction was politically motivated, and was part of a broader plot to remove him from office by force.
“They offered me N100 million to resign as NANS President. I rejected it because I was elected by students, not politicians. That’s when they came for me,” Isah declared on the video.
According to him, he was blindfolded, stripped naked, physically assaulted and taken to an undisclosed location where he was coerced into recording a scripted resignation speech. The video was later broadcast on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), which Isah said was part of a state-backed propaganda effort to malign and coerce him into resignation.
“They forced me to read a resignation script and aired it on NTA to make it look legitimate. It was psychological and physical torture,” he stated visibly emotional in the footage.
Isah alleged that Seyi who has been touted as eyeing the Lagos State governorship position against the reinstated Speaker Obasa come 2027, perceived his leadership of the students’ body as a political threat, especially after the 125th NANS Convention in Abuja, where Seyi reportedly expressed disdain for his emergence as president.
Isah lamented, “Seyi Tinubu is a bad influence on Nigerian youths. He has no respect for democratic processes or students’ voices. He’s using the state machinery to silence opposition”.
His legal Counsel, Bar. A.O. Ochogwu, has since petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun and the Department of State Service (DSS), demanding an investigation into his abduction and torture for which he has been writhing in pain. In the petition, Isah listed Seyi, Olusola Ladoja, a factional leader of NANS and some NTA officials yet to be identified in print, as accomplices in the abduction and abuse case.
Some students who spoke to Tentacle under anonymous posture, alleged that Seyi is a lawless and power drunk son of Nigeria’s president, who wants to grab governorship power in Lagos State by any means. The students added that it is for Seyi’s 2027 governorship ambition that he has become a meddlesome interloper in the affairs of NANS because he perceived that the current leadership of NANS will not support his brigandage approach to power.
One of the students alleged, “If Seyi had the opportunity, he would have eliminated our president, Isah. But such power has been denied him by the Almighty God. Now, he is looking for means to incapacitate the president and claim that he was attacked by criminals. If Seyi was able to achieve his sinister plot, Isah would have been out of the way by now. But unfortunately for Seyi and his desperation, the students’ union is 100 per cent loyal to our beloved president”.
Efforts to reach NTA by our Abuja correspondent failed as no officials volunteered comments on why the Authority would hastily publish Isah’s resignation without duly confirming from him if he voluntarily resigned.
In swift reaction, a support group known as Friends of Seyi Tinubu (FOST) has dismissed the allegations of the abduction and torture of the NANS president as a “desperate smear campaign.” In a statement it made available to the media, FOST described Isah as a “self-acclaimed president” and denied any political or criminal involvement by Seyi.
According to FOST’s statement, “These allegations are baseless and politically motivated. They are designed to tarnish the image of a private citizen who has no role in students’ unionism.”
On their part, students from various tertiary institutions across the country have taken to the streets of Abuja in a solidarity protest against the alleged inhuman treatment meted out to Isah by hoodlums allegedly working for Seyi. The students demanded thorough investigation and accountability concerning all that happened against the NANS president. They also called on the National Assembly to investigate the abuse of power and alleged misuse of the state-owned broadcast media, the NTA, for Seyi Tinubu’s political agenda and manipulation.
A NANS leader from the Yakubu Gowon University, Abuja who refused to be identified in print said, “If student leaders can be kidnapped, tortured, and coerced into resignation for refusing bribes, then our democracy is under attack. We demand justice for Comrade Isah.”
At the time of filing this report, neither the Presidency, the NPF not the NTA, has issued an official statement in response to the allegations. The silence of these institutions of the state has amplified the suspicion of many that there may be ongoing political interference in students’ union affairs by highly positioned political figures. They also said it is the indication of the vulnerability of youth leaders in Nigeria’s democratic space.
Seyi has in his feeble response to the weighty allegations, stated that, “Enough Is Enough.” He insisted that at no time was he involved in the incidents and chaos that trailed the NANS inauguration.
He categorically denied claims by Comrade Isah, that he led armed thugs to disrupt the NANS inauguration in Abuja and threatened his life.
In a strongly worded response shared on Instagram, Seyi also described the allegation of abduction, torture and bribery as “fake news” and claimed the allegation defamatory. He further warned that he would pursue legal action if what he referred to as misinformation continued.
Meanwhile, as some alleged eyewitness accounts at the hotel refuted Isah’s claims, stating that there was no security breach or confirmed presence of Seyi at the venue, the security agencies have also not verified the alleged incident and come up with official statement.
But video clips at the disposal of this news medium indicated that the NANS president was tracked down during his inauguration ceremony in Abuja and severely beaten up by thugs suspected to be doing the bidding of the President Tinubu’s son, leading to multiple injuries visibly all over his body.
The thugs were alleged to have arrived the Wells Carslson Hotel in the Federal Capital Territory, the venue of the inauguration, however the hotel management has denied the attack in its domain. But some students have advised the security agencies to request from the hotel management the release of the CCTV footage within the time frame and see if Nigeria would not slide into total anarchy when students would go on rampage.
Many of the students wondered that the way things are going on in the country, with the level of banditry, terrorism and killings, some politicians are still deliberately inflicting pains on Nigerians, such as was allegedly meted out to Isah.
