By Our Correspondent
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has launched a blistering counter-offensive against the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and Zamfara politician Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, dismissing their calls for the removal of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, as a politically engineered distraction divorced from national interest and student welfare.
In a sharply worded statement issued Tuesday, the rights group described NANS’ threat of nationwide protests demanding Matawalle’s sack as reckless posturing, accusing the student body of abandoning its historic mandate in favour of partisan grandstanding.
HURIWA said the spectacle of student leaders issuing ultimatums over the fate of a serving minister underscored how far NANS has drifted from the burning realities on Nigerian campuses, where underfunding, decaying infrastructure and repeated academic disruptions continue to erode standards.
“Student unionism is not a branch office of any political party,” the group said. “NANS should return to classrooms and lecture halls and confront the real emergencies facing Nigerian students, collapsing facilities, overcrowded hostels, poorly equipped laboratories and a future steadily being compromised by poor budgeting.”
The association warned that Nigeria’s universities, once centres of academic excellence, are increasingly being reduced to what it described as “glorified primary schools” due to years of neglect.
It argued that these were the battles that should define student activism, not campaigns against cabinet members.
HURIWA pointed to the long-standing agitation by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over funding shortfalls and deteriorating academic conditions, insisting that NANS ought to be working alongside lecturers to press for structural reforms, improved welfare and sustainable investment in education.
“Threatening protests over the fate of a minister is not only misplaced, it is irresponsible,” HURIWA said. “The duty of NANS is to defend students whose aspirations are being steadily eroded, not to play to the gallery of politicians.”
The rights group was equally scathing in its assessment of comments by Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, describing his criticisms of Matawalle as overtly political and rooted in Zamfara State’s fierce partisan rivalries.
According to HURIWA, Shinkafi’s interventions cannot be divorced from the intense power struggle between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The group noted that Shinkafi, now aligned with the PDP after a political journey that included APGA, is widely seen as operating in the orbit of the current state administration.
It argued that the sustained attacks on Matawalle are driven less by concern for national security and more by anxiety within rival camps over the former governor’s political weight ahead of the 2027 governorship contest.
“When Shinkafi speaks on Matawalle, Nigerians must listen with discernment,” HURIWA said. “This is not a neutral intervention. It is a politically coloured assault shaped by Zamfara’s power contest and fears of Matawalle’s continued relevance within the APC.”
The association warned against the dangerous politicization of security issues, cautioning that public grandstanding and unsubstantiated accusations could weaken national cohesion.
It urged political actors and civic groups alike to rely on evidence, due process and institutional mechanisms rather than weaponizing security challenges for partisan advantage.
HURIWA maintained that accountability in public office remains essential, but stressed that criticism must be grounded in facts and guided by national interest, not opportunism or political fear.
As political tensions rise and student activism drifts into partisan terrain, the group called on Nigerians to remain vigilant against what it described as attempts to manipulate public opinion through carefully choreographed narratives, warning that the cost of such distractions would ultimately be borne by the nation’s fragile institutions and its restless youth.
