UISU Elections: Unauthorised Polling Unit Reportedly Busted At Kuti Hall

By Adebayo AbdulRahman

Some stakeholders at Kuti Hall were earlier today reportedly caught engaging in a mass voting exercise for certain candidates in the ongoing students’ union elections, an action that contravenes the SU electoral guidelines. 

In a video that has been verified by UCJUI, at least six students were seen with three laptops and various documents trying to engage in the mass voting exercise. 

A review of the identity of the students in the video revealed that the Hall chair of Kuti Hall, Olasunkanmi Yusuf, was one of those involved in the exercise, one that clearly violates the electoral act. 

When contacted by UCJUI, the Hall chair, who confirmed that the allegation was true, argued that “busted is a very wrong word honestly.” 

“And while I understand that everyone wants to use possible propagandas they can lay their hands on, this is really untrue.”

Yusuf argued that he and his colleagues were only trying to compile the room numbers of some students adding that “the video being passed around was taken by my information minister under my instructions.”

He explained further that it was part of efforts he is taking to ensure all residents of the hall get to vote.

However, a member of the institution’s electoral commission who pleaded anonymity, revealed that the voting setup for yet-to-be identified candidates at the hall was illegal. 

“What they did is very illegal,” the electoral committee member said. 

He explained that the commission is currently trying to be careful because “the action of those at Kuti can potentially lead to a cancellation of the elections.” 

‘There Is No Polling Unit’

Meanwhile, the electoral commissioner also clarified a recent announcement that there are four polling units for the elections. 

According to him, the designated areas are just complaint centres where students who registered with personal mail accounts can complete their accreditation. 

“The reason we insisted that those that registered with personal mail should come to the complaints centre was because we discovered that some personal emails were manipulated. 

“The reason why we allowed people to register with personal mails was because not everyone has access to their school mails. That was why we set up the complaints centres,” he added.