On September 4, 2024, a statement went viral with the heading “NOTIFICATION OF MASSIVE SHUTDOWN OF ALL MAJOR CITIES IN NIGERIA.” A version of the statement was posted by Instablog9ja with the caption “Just In: NANS announces nationwide protests over the increase in pump price, plans to shut down all major cities.” Barely 24 hours after the press statement was uploaded on their verified X page (formerly Twitter), the tweet has garnered over 134,000 views.
The statement includes a notification of “a massive shutdown of all major cities in Nigeria, effective 15th September 2024.” According to the statement, the massive shutdown is due to the incessant increase in fuel prices which has brought untold hardship to the masses.
The statement carries the letterhead document of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and is signed by Okunomo Henry Adewumi, the president of the senate at NANS.
Claim: Did NANS issue the statement on massive shutdown of all major cities in Nigeria?
ALL WE KNOW
The CDD War Room found that there exist three factions of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and one of the factions of the student body has Okunomo Henry Adewumi as president of the Senate and he was the one who signed the press statement.
We also found that Akinteye Babatunde Afeez also claims to be the president of the NANS Senate and belongs to another faction. The third faction has Elvis Ekundina as its senate president.
Shortly after the statement signed by Okunomo Adewumi went viral, the Akinteye Afeez faction refuted the plans in a subsequent statement that was published by The Cable, a credible news platform. According to Afeez, the student body has not endorsed protests, and the rumours are unfounded.
We found that on 1st December 2023, NANS held a National Convention in Abuja that produced parallel leadership of three factions. However, in May 2024, two of the NANS factions settled their differences at the instance of the presidents and senate presidents of the two factions. The parties agreed that following the reconciliation, Lucky Emonefe had been endorsed as the authentic NANS President, adding that all other factions have agreed to work with him in the interest of Nigerian students.