By Victor Olumide-Enoch
John Quincy Adams in his philosophical assertion said: ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Com Sunday Adedayo Asefon, is fast emerging as a respectable personality whose name resonates positivity in Nigeria. He sauntered into the terrain as a student leader, where he cut his teeth in leadership. Today, he stands as a political force with requisite stamina on national politics , having been appointed as the Senior Special Assistant on Students’ Engagement to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Though, he began his sterling leadership through student’s activism, where he held several plum positions in Ekiti State student movement and the Southwest NANS Zonal Coordinator and Director of action and mobilization, Through his unbridled knack for sterling leadership and full commitment to emancipation of the students from the menace of extortion in schools, he widened the the horizons to the national pedestal. He contested and won the Presidency of the National Association of Nigerian Students. He was never wearied of progressing, because leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
Through his superb leadership, he has been able to establish that student unionism remains the best training ground for leadership. This he did by recalibrating strategies at that cadre. He firmly established that the weapon of Aluta can be wielded to reset the society and make things work, rather than deploying it to cause frictions and destructions.
As the president of NANS, Asefon championed many students activism in Nigeria, likewise mediated in many crises . Exhilaratingly, none could be branded to be destructive or frictional. He indoctrinated the 3Cs of Aluta struggle : Consultation, Consolidation and Confrontation, firmly in the students’ struggle without compromise. This carved a huge niche for him as a leader with panache, conscience and clairvoyance.
However, his being tactical doesn’t connote weakness, neither act of compromise. He had never been seen pandering to the whims and caprices of the moneybags. Always firm, truthful and futuristic. He only injected modernity into student’s activism because change is the only constant thing in life.
During his stint as NANS’ President, he visited so many turbulent universities and Polytechnics, experiencing harrowing issues with managements. He fought gallantly where fight was needed. He also applied wisdom where required. His ultimate aim and goal was to accomplish the task of making students feel comfortable in schools. Using the carrot and stick approach, he achieved all that were required and his leadership stands tall as a microcosm in NANS’ presidency.
Most exhilarating feature in his activism trajectory, was sending a signal that students have capacity for leadership. This he proven through his superb performance as an aide to President Tinubu. The signs are obvious that Nigerian students are now considered a potent force in Nigerian leadership. This doesn’t come by happenstance, but through demonstrable capacity shown by Asefon in his past and current positions.
It was not gainsaid that Asiwaju Tinubu encapsulated the Nigerian Education Loan Fund codenamed “students’ loan” as part of his policy thrust. But it took some months before the policy was implemented. The execution of this lofty programme that had benefitted over a million of students could be traced to robust lobbying and underground works put up by Asefon’s office.
It is also on record that since the advent of Tinubu’s presidency, Nigerian universities have not been submerged into any long-drawn battle in the facets of strike. Going down memory lane, Nigeria’s ivory tower were synonymous with industrial action. In fact, it has become a fad and vogue expected to happen and spiral. But the presidency with partnership with the Ministry of Education and Asefon’s office, had succeeded in decapitating this sordid trend. Nobody is claiming there were no issues, but such were being tackled with maturity and tact.
Like earlier said, through his dexterous and modern activism, Aluta has become a weapon of positive change. He has initiated and sponsored so many empowerment programmes to make his colleagues in the tertiary institutions felt a full dose of dividends of democracy under Tinubu’s leadership.
In 2024, he provided food palliatives for thousands of Muslims during Ramadan fasting. Materials distributed include rice, cash and other consumables. It was predominantly for Muslims in Ado Ekiti Local Government where he hailed. Good enough, he replicated the same lofty programme for Christians during Lenten period. To him, religious extremism and bigotry shouldn’t have a space to operate in the country’s body polity. The same way he reached out to people of diverse religious backgrounds during Christmas and New Year’s festivities.
As a river that refuses to forget its source, Asefon has always acted as a resourceful and committed alumnus of Ado Grammar School, where he had his school certificate. He has been a champion and purveyor of give- back- to- school initiative of Biodun Oyebanji’s administration. Being a Christian of Celestial denomination, this student leader firmly aligns with Proverbs 11: 25 that says : “The hands of the liberal souls shall be made fat, while those who watereth shall be watered”. This has been his guiding principle and moral compass.
He has demonstrated fidelity to the foregoing principle in diverse ways. Since being appointed as a presidential aide, he had provided free JAMB forms to over two thousand of students of that school, ditto those from his Ado Ekiti country home combined. This he championed to propel education of his people, especially those from poor backgrounds. He has a rabid belief that all impediments inhibiting Nigerians from attaining higher certificates must be collectively removed.
During one of his engagements with students, he did make a startling revelation that made many to gape for long. He said he had over a hundred of students of tertiary institutions that were enjoying silent scholarships and sponsorship from 100 to 400 level through his generosity. This attested to how spirited he was to make lives more abundant for Nigerian students.
Asefon did something enigmatic On Friday, 23rd of January, 2026. He mobilised over 10,000 students and youth for a march for Tinubu and Governor Biodun Oyebanji. When the news of the 10,000-man march filtered into town, skeptics thought such was unattainable. They took it to be a tall order and impossibility in a sparsely populated enclave like Ekiti. But this resourceful leader stunned the public by locking down the entire Ado Ekiti streets for over three hours on that day. Students and youth swarmed the streets like bees. It was only a capacious leader that could accomplish such an arduous and uphill task. But this enigma achieved it. This underscored his capacity to accomplish any goal, no matter the drudgery involved.
The populace could attest to the fact that Asefon had been an ardent and unbending APC apologist for long. In spite of this affinity with the ruling party, he had in the past led student movement to oppose many of the policies initiated by ruling governments in the state as a student’s activist. Not that he did that out of hatred, but on principle and conviction.
Under this context, he must have been well pleased with the youth and student-centric policies of these great leaders for him to have mobilised such a mammoth number of students for President Tinubu and Governor Oyebanji.
Addressing the crowd at the march, Asefon said the rally was organised to appreciate the contributions and support of President Tinubu and Governor Oyebanji to youth and student empowerment across the country.
The presidential aide noted that the students’ loan scheme introduced by the Tinubu administration had positively impacted the education sector, providing relief and opportunities for many Nigerian students. He urged youths and students in Ekiti State to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and prepare to vote for Governor Oyebanji in the June 20 governorship election, as well as for President Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
“We are on the streets for two major reasons. First, we are on the streets for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Second, we are on the streets for our dear governor, our own governor, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, popularly known as BAO. We are here to celebrate the impactful and people-oriented leadership of these two leaders—the President and the Governor.
“We are expressing our appreciation to the President and the Ekiti State Government for their investments in education, both in Ekiti State and Nigeria at large. As students and youths, we believe we owe them a debt of gratitude. We may not have money, silver, or gold to give, but we firmly believe that on election day, we will reward them with our votes. They have done remarkably well.
“Today is also an opportunity to advise and mobilise our friends, colleagues, students and youths to go and collect their Permanent Voter Cards. Those who already have their PVCs should keep them safe. On June 20, when the governorship election holds, we must all come out en masse to show the people of Ekiti State and Nigerians at large that Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji has invested massively in youth development and education.
“By doing so, we will vote for him and even double the number of votes that brought him into office the first time. This time, we want him to win in all polling units across Ekiti State. Beyond that, we are also sending a clear signal that 2027 is already settled for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We are telling Nigerians and the whole world can see it clearly that the youth and students are firmly behind him,” he said.
Nicholas Murray-Butler in one of his epical orations did assert that “optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.” Asefon is indisputably optimistic that the future of the Nigerian students and youth is bright under Tinubu’s presidency. Just as he has his eyes set on creating a platform for them ahead of future. This is not for nothing, but to consolidate the current achievements to offer the required impetus and courage to accomplish more remarkable progresses in their future endeavours .
Olumide-Enoch, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja