“since the existence of Man, on no account has there ever been a free and fair election.” - Chairman, SU Electoral Commission

A press conference was called by the Students' Union Electoral Commission basically for briefing of the preparation of the forth coming Students' Union election which will hold in a week's time. The Pvblic Relations Officer (PRO) of the Students' Union Electoral Commission, Comrade Olalekan Olatunbosun popularly known as Catalyst started the meeting with his speech, welcoming the Chairman of the Students' Union Electoral Committee Comrade Ajayi Oluwafemi popularly known as Castro and also did a brief introduction of other SU Electoral Commission members present. Which afterwards he went straight to the purpose of the meeting which is updating the students through the press, the situations and preparations regarding the forth coming election.

The Chairman of the Students' Union Electoral Commission, Mr Ajayi "castro" Oluwafemi continued the meeting as he started with listing out the guidelines and rules on how the election will be conducted. During this course, he made mention the number of slots available for all departments, i.e. all departments has 13 slots excepts for Law department which have 12 slots. He also mention the eligibility for candidates to be able to contest in the election. Stating that the least CGPA a students must have to contest for a post at the Student Union level is 2.5 and 200L students and above are eligible to contest which there are no rooms for 100l students to contest.

At that point, questions were raised on why it is necessary for the CGPA to be considered as a criterial for students to contest for a post. The Chairman, Castro then made it known that it is not in their power to decide that  as  he personally see no need to the CGPA  being a criterial for students to want to participate in the election. But the power is not in his hand and is definitely not in the school’s management hands because  he already tabled it before the vice-chancellor, which he said he will also have to table it before the constitutional council who organized the rules guiding the students electoral commission. The Chairman further said he immediately dismiss the idea because he believes that making an attempt to go through that process will take a long time and might leads to hindering the effective performance of the students Union.  

 While still on the issue of the criteria for election, the Chairman of the Students'Union Electoral Commission, Castro also made it known that the school administration is the one funding the Union. This statement  of his leads to another questions from the press members asking if the Electoral Commission is saying that they are fully controlled by the school authorities since they are the one funding them financially. Castro objected saying he can never dances to the tune of the management.

“Never, I can not dance to their tune because they don’t sing Rema tunes.”

For confirmation purpose, the question was still further asked if the Chairman is saying that despite being funded by the school management, the union won't be controlled by the school authorities. The Chairman, Castro, and the PRO, Catalyst confirmed that it is not possible and they can’t be control by the school authority.

The union members were asked for the reason behind the extension of date for obtaining forms. Castro made it clear that it is just to enhance adequate preparations as electoral facilities are not something that should be handle with levity hand. Everything must be provided and ensure that they are more than enough. He made use of the ballot paper as an example that if it is not enough or not  available at the right time, it will definitely create an issue on the day of election. He also said aside from this, they discovered that most students are yet to turn up for the obtaining of the form and that also caused another reason for them to actually extend the date.

Confirmations were also made by the press members from the Unions if they will be entitled to some of the confidential documents for the elections just incase  there is need for any confirmation of rumors or claims. A clear answer wasn’t given to the question but later leads to a controversial discussion of if the press has the total right to any thing they requests for at any point in time which also leads to if it is the ACJ  that is going to handle the debate session which will be coming up in few days before the election. An argument occurred about who to handle the debate session, Castro finalized the discussion on meeting separately with the ACJ members to see how it will go.

During the course of answering one of the numerous questions of the members of press, Castro stated and I quote “since the existence of Man, on no account has there ever been a free and fair election.”

This statement leads to a disagreement as a good number of the press did not agree to the statement. He was asked if he is saying that this election won’t  be free and fair.

He asked the press members not to misquote him and get what he is saying clearly. He said what he meant is that even after the conduction of the election some loosing side might still arise and say the election is not fair enough. The PRO, Catalyst also shed more light to his statement as they both recall an election of the past when the SUG was still active where a loosing opponents made them counts the ballot paper three times before finally accepting defeats. They also make mention of the fact that rumor already started spreading since the day they got into office as the acting chairman of how he might have work his way out. Thereby  concluding that his statements is just a fact but he is not saying a free and fair election won't be guaranteed during the election period.

BY: ADEBAYO MIRACLE