Nollywood actor Frederick Leonard has asked Nigerian students in public universities if they would still vote for the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming presidential election.
His question is coming against the backdrop of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which will enter its sixth month on 14 August.
Since APC came into power in 2015, undergraduates in universities across the country have lost at least 18 months from their educational calendar, owing to the recurring strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The first ASUU strike under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was on 17 August 2017 and it lasted 36 days.
The second ASUU strike, which was a result of the outstanding issues between the Federal Government and ASUU as regards the 2009 agreement and the MoU of 2013, started on 4 November 2018 and lasted till 7 February 2019—95 days.
The third ASUU strike commenced on March 23, 2020. The indefinite strike started the same week Buhari imposed a nationwide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The strike lasted for 9 months.
On 14 February 2022, the academic union declared yet another strike, which has lasted till today.
Given the ASUU strike that has been a recurrence decimal in the academic calendar of Nigerian students since 2015, Leonard took to Twitter to ask: “Will any of these students currently on ASUU strike…. totally ignored by the government still vote for the current political party in the coming elections?”
He added, “I’m just asking respectfully.. Or will they forget? Will they be brainwashed? Will they be bought because of the hunger deliberately created in the land? Or will they be brave enough to try something new and different, For a new and different result. I’m just asking.”
A former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the ruling party. He picked a former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate.
