The Absurdity Called Ospoly SUG Election 2018 (The Full Story)

On the 31st of May, 2018, majority of the students of Osun State Polytechnic Iree especially the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology witnessed the highest level of disenfranchisement in the history of Students Union Government elections on the campus.

At first, accreditation and voting that was stipulated to start at 9am started around 10:7am.

Next, it was the distribution of ballot papers to the seven polling boots stationed on the pavilion.  The so-called Independent Student Electoral Commission distributed 5 hundred ballot papers to all the polling boots not taking into consideration the population in each of the polling boots which represent all the faculties on the campus.

The ridiculousness of them all was that, FICT which happened to be the largest faculty on the campus in terms of population was at first given lesser electoral officers compared to other smaller faculties. FICT was given only a table for the electorate to fill in those they intended to vote for.

Under the skin biting sun, the unprecedented crowd from the FICT stood with frustrated frowns wondering why their queue refused to move a hitch for hours. The sluggish electoral officials were overwhelmed by the sweating and frustrated crowd waiting to be accredited and cast their votes. 

Apart from these woeful side attractions going on under the dark coloured canopy marked with FICT, the students of Computer Science Department were busy making sure that anybody suspected to be a student of Mass Communication Department did not have his/her way to the accreditation point. This led to scrabbling and rumbling in the queue leading to some female students of the Mass Communication department who could not take the frustration any longer to give up by returning to their hostels until a prolonged intervention of the security operatives on ground. However, it is important to note that countless of others still stood and held their grounds throughout the fierce struggle.

Besides this, some so-called stakeholders of the Computer Science Department were seen sharing piece of papers containing the names of some aspirants to their course mates and some weak-hearted ND 1 students of the Mass Communication Department. This act was a direct contradiction to the so-called rule of the ISEC which stipulated that “no campaign is allowed at the voting centers”. It is also important to note that this same act was going on in every other polling boots on the pavilion. This act and many other illegalities were reported to the so-called ISEC chairman but turned deaf ears.

How the whole process was allegedly rigged before the election proper.

The Faculty of Information and Communication Technology is known to be the most populous on campus. Why on earth should it be treated lesser than other smaller faculties? Why should they even be treated equally with others who are smaller in number? Why on earth a faculty as large as the FICT should be given only 5 hundred ballot papers at the first place. Well, according to hearsay, the ISEC chairman said the turnout was not anticipated. Without sounding too judgemental, the excuse sound like a wail of incompetence or probably a well thought-out strategy to rig the process.

The strategy became clearer at the very beginning when FICT was given less manpower. It took the effort of some stakeholders of the Mass Communication Department to get additional hand. It also took an extraordinary effort of some stakeholders to get extra tables and chairs to complement the only one table that was brought to the FICT canopy. All these efforts took time to be accomplished without suspecting that it was probably a delay tactics to favour the eventual winner.

This opinion is supported by the fact that, it took the ISEC Chairman almost one hour to bring another 250 copies of ballot papers when the electoral officer at the FICT polling boot called to inform him that the first batch of 500 copies have been exhausted. When he came with these copies, the crowd who were over 600 on ground began to protest against the delays and the number of ballot papers he brought. They were immediately calmed and the voting process continued.

As fate may have it, the 250 copies got finished. Phone calls began to go to the ISEC chairman from all angles to bring more ballot papers including from the HOD of Mass Communication who was on ground at this point to see the abnormalities that were going on. The ISEC chairman failed to answer all these calls until pressure began to mount on his subordinates and the issue was taken to the Dean of Students affairs that was also on ground. The ISEC chairman finally came to the FICT polling boot after keeping the frustrated crowd waiting for over one hour. Irritatingly, the ISEC chairman got there with only 100 copies which was heavily protested against.

“When I told dean of Students Affairs to release another one for FICT he refused and he now gave it to science like 400. They do partial and favouritism,” a member of ISEC decried.

Outcome of the Absurdity

The rigorous attempt of the over 60% of  the loyal students of  Mass Communication department and others to vote, officially failed around 4:07pm when some members of the school management ordered the ISEC Chairman to stop the election without putting into consideration the number of people anxiously waiting on the queue, under the trees, and under the canopy to cast their votes.

This pronouncement gave birth to a mass protest and harmonious chanting of "We must vote! We must vote!!" by the students of the FICT and other disenfranchised students. The spirited students who were ready to give their all to express their right to vote tried to stop the security operatives from carrying the ballot box from the FICT polling boot. The security operatives could not overcome the resistance of the students.

The students were given a gleam of hope that they will be given a chance to carryout their civil right after a prolonged protest, persuasion and plead. The jubilant students who at this point were already on the queue of three rolls waiting for the ISEC officers to attend to them were disappointed again when they were informed that the dean of students affairs, the DSA, the school CSO and others refused to allow the voting to continue.

This sparked another round of resistance. The students made a barricade round the FICT ballot box heavily guarded by some security operatives. They refused to allow the ballot box to be taken away. When the officials succeeded in taking the ballot boxes of other faculties away, it was now the turn of that of the FICT. The members of other faculties attacked the barricade formed by the students of the FICT but they were unable to penetrate until a life threatening intervention of the Department of State Security Service. The DSS officers drove their van speedily into the mob and then the spirited students ran for their lives while few students struggled the box with the heavily armed DSS officers until the officers succeeded in taking the box and speed away to MPH where the counting and collation took place. The agitated students chased the van to the MPH in a manner that can only be compared to the days of the struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

No matter how spirited an unarmed person is, he/she cannot be more spirited than an armed person. So, the DSS won and they took the ballot boxes into the MPH and sorting, counting and collation began. These started at about 5:30pm and dragged till the late hours of the night.

After sorting and counting, only 779 people were able to vote at the polling boot of FICT, 808 voted at Feng polling boot, 841 voted at Faculty of Science polling boot, FFS polling boot 840 votes, FMS polling boot 661 votes, FES polling boot 65 votes and FVT/NCE Polling boot 23 votes. As the saying goes, the rest is history.

The Announced Winners

Hope - President
Humble - Vice President
Alawusa - PRO
Abbey 20 - Sport Director
Orozo - General Secretary
Beejay - Auditor
Isolak - Financial Secretary
Upzzy Gold - Social Director
Mr. Latin - Welfare
Dee Bright - Treasurer
Hordex - Assistant General Secretary.

The ball is now in the court of the school management to allow this absurdity to stand or ensures that justice prevails.