20th February, 2019
The Buhari Support Organisation (BSO), Sokoto State chapter, has urged the Governor of the state, Aminu Tambuwal, to allow eligible students in the state to participate in the rescheduled 2019 general elections.
The organisation made the call in a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity, Malam Aminu Faruk, and made available to newsmen in Sokoto on Wednesday.
It stated that the postponed elections provided an opportunity for the eligible students to exercise the civic rights of voting.
The chapter criticised the state government’s decision not to allow boarding students to return home prior to the previous dates of the rescheduled elections.
Faruk said the action would disenfranchise eligible voters among students of boarding schools in Sokoto state.
It said students constituted a good number of registered voters in the state, stressing that there was no need to disenfranchise them.
“This is evident with the non-compliance to the Federal Government’s directive to close schools to enable students travel home to exercise their civic duties as citizens.
“ This may not be unconnected with Gov. Tambuwal’s fear that majority of the students will vote for the opposition, APC, as an expression of grudge on the poor state of education in the state.
“The students are the primary victims of this action because it is a fact that the so-called state of emergency in the education sector has little impacts on the citizens” Faruk added.
BSO further said the situation in public schools even within the state capital revealed poor state of infrastructure for proper learning and complete lack of instructional materials for effective teaching.
The organisation pointed out that lack of incentives to teachers had also led to poor attitude toward teaching and lack of dedication to duties on the side of other workers.
According to BSO, the situation in the schools is not reflecting the huge amount budgeted annually on education in addition to the monthly deductions from the emoluments of workers in the state.