By: Tijani Abdulkabeer
On Thursday, November 11, what had begun as a peaceful election at the Faculty of Arts Quadrangle turned rowdy when some financial members (Students) from some departments especially Theatre Arts, Anthropology, and Linguistics complained that they were unable to vote.
Before now, the electoral committee in ensuring that all students in the Faculty are accredited for voting demanded a comprehensive list from the Financial Secretary of the association as well as from Presidents of every department. These lists were what the committee submitted to the technical officers for onboarding on the system.
But as the complaints kept increasing, the electoral committee discovered that the names of the affected students were not recorded on the system and this was because the names were not submitted to the committee.
Worried about the difficulties, the technical officers had to start uploading the missing names into the master system as voting continues. This activity according to the lead technical officer affected the pace of the working system while he further confirmed that the number of students especially from Linguistics that he had to upload during the voting period was more than the initial names submitted and that was responsible for the technical issues that slowed down the voting process.
STUDENTS’ LEADERS INTERVENE
Spurred by the technical issues that slowed the voting process, the incumbent President, Eniola Francis, Speaker of the FLC, Mohammed Salaudeen, the Deputy Speaker, Surajudeen as well as the Chairman of all departmental presidents were seen at the polling units trying to intervene.
The President in one moment was seen discussing with the AFASIEC Chairman and the next moment, he was seen expressing displeasure about the complaints he kept receiving from students who were unable to cast their votes.
One of the staff advisers of the association, Dr.Ajayi from the History department who was at the venue, intervened and stopped the president from creating “Chaos” in the election process that was ongoing and further explained that the incumbent should not be involved.
These student leaders left the venue.
As the unrest continued with only a few people having access to vote, some members of the electoral committee were summoned to a meeting by the Sub-Dean of the Faculty, Dr.Blavo in his office.
This development, according to the Chairman, was to review the situation and reach a consensus on the way forward since the possibility of having the election concluded was not “visible” any longer considering the challenges.
The AFASIEC Chairman called the AFAS President, the Speaker of the Faculty Legislative Council, and the CPC Chairman to join in the meeting held at the Sub-dean’s office.
According to the President, Eniola Francis, “The AFASIEC Chairman called me, the Speaker and the CPC Chairman to the Sub-Dean office and they told us that the election would continue but very slow and have no choice than to continue the elections today”
“I told him this is a very sensitive decision. It is better that you address AFASites yourself so that it would be a unanimous decision. If I am the one coming out, AFASites would think I have an ulterior motive and I called everyone that AFASIEC Chairman wants to address us.”
Though, by the time the President stepped out of the Sub-Dean office, he called for a congress to address AFASites despite the ongoing election. This act, according to the staff advisers was an act of disregard for the authority because “It didn’t pass through the right process.” The act was considered an “abuse of office power”
All I did was Constitutional – Francis
Meanwhile, in a meeting directed by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Oyeshile with the staff advisers of the association and had in attendance members of AFAS Electoral body and all the executive aspirants, Francis was interrogated on his call for Congress during the election on Thursday.
In his address, the dean expressed displeasure about the reported involvement of the sitting president in the voting process and further reviewed the legality around his decision to call for a congress without following due process and getting approval from the concerned authorities.
The Dean asked, “When you met with your people, did you carry the staff advisers along about your decision to call a congress when the election was on as the sitting president?
While the president did not deny that his call for Congress did not follow due process he maintained that all he did was “Constitutional” and this was a stance that Dr.Ajayi further described as “An height of insult even before the Dean of the Faculty.”
Speaking on the way forward, the Dean gave the President the options of choosing between legality and apologizing to the Faculty authority especially the staff advisers and the sub-dean.
“The President since he said he had done everything legitimately is to push the case to a higher authority to determine whether he had that power to call for a congress when the election is ongoing”
“The second option is if he realizes his folly and apologizes. But if he thinks all he has done is legitimate, we would suspend the election for now and we set up a proper administrative process to look at the case.” He said. In response, the President apologized.
Dean Proposes Manual Voting
Speaking further, Professor Oyeshile proposed solutions that may mitigate the challenges faced by students of the Faculty during the election.
“On the basis of what has happened, we want to give you our own blueprint. The blueprint is that we are not going to continue with this election. We are going to have a fresh election. Because of the problems associated with e-voting, it’s going to be manual and my colleagues would ensure that things are put in proper perspectives.”
“They are going to check the electoral papers in conjunction with the sub-dean and we have to be flexible with the financial lists this time around. What we would do is if your name is not on the financial list, come with your receipt.
In addition, he assured that the electoral committee would work with the sub-Dean and the staff advisers to determine the details of the new day for the election.
The committee has announced Wednesday, November 17 as the new date for the election.
