THE 36TH LASUSU ELECTIONS: DEAR IEC, WE NEED ANSWERS!

The Lagos State University Students’ Executive Council Election was conducted on Monday, July 28, on various campuses of the University, including Ojo, Epe, and Ikeja Campuses.

Amidst the cheers, celebrations, sadness, complaints, grievances, and spite going on in the minds of many candidates, leaders, godfathers, and the general student populace, LASU Conscience is pleased to break down what went on in one of the most bizarre electoral processes ever seen in the history of Lagos State University.

How It All Started: The 36th LASUSU IEC

About a month ago, the 36th Lagos State University Students’ Union Independent Electoral Committee was officially announced. ‘The Veritas Team’, so they were called, led by the chairman Kehinde Nurudeen (Olori Obi), and other members of the IEC, began their duty on July 1st by officially lifting the ban on campaign activities on campus, followed by the screening of candidates for the Students’ Executive Council (SEC) and the Students’ Parliamentary Council (SPC).

Ironically, the 36th LASUSU IEC “Team Veritas” did the opposite of what the word Veritas stands for. Their lack of publicity, collaboration with media outlets, and inadequate provision of information to the public accumulated to giving us an infamous electoral process. It was as if we were subjected to follow the blind team with no focus.

Now To The SEC Elections: An Election To Forget

The much-anticipated election was held on Monday, and as we expected, it was not free; in fact, it can easily pass for one of the worst elections held in the history of the Lagos State University Students’ Executive Council election.

For a team whose name stands for the truth, the IEC team woefully failed in its discharge of duties on the day of the election. From the voting process in which many students, especially freshers, were oblivious of how to get their tokens and even how to vote, other students who got theirs were coerced into submitting them to their so-called faculty executives who made sure to vote for their preferred candidates, much to the dismay of many students. They seem to forget that we have 100 levels and also those who are new in the game. How would they navigate their way in the clouded election without proper education ? That was not in the dictionary.

Despite the numerous mistakes made by the IEC, what broke the camel’s back was the number of votes counted during the last hour of the election process: Team Veritas!

According to numerous reports, it was alleged that the last hour of the 36th LASUSU SEC Elections was where the main election took place, as the number of votes during that period allegedly superseded the total number of votes from the beginning of the elections to that period. It was alarming on how we were able to get that amount of votes even when most of the students were not able to vote, especially from FMS which is the faculty with the largest population. They started by 1pm and were not able to vote before the election was ended. How then did we get there?

Deceit – Course Forms, Tests, Attendance

The belief that politicians are deceitful is quite true, but have you seen their enablers? Have you heard of voting as a criterion to submit your course forms, or 3 tests scheduled to be held on the day of the election, and you end up at the polling booth instead of the classroom, or voting as a process to get free 10 marks? These and many more occurred during the election, leaving many students pissed and frustrated, and ultimately a gradual ignition of political apathy.

At this point, there have to be better strategies put in place to ensure voluntary participation among students, rather than using forceful tactics on unsuspecting students, who melt at the mention of tests, marks, or attendance.

Was The Election Free And Fair?

This question raises several questions which can easily be answered just by listing out some hitches including the delay in starting the elections in some faculties, complaints of network issues, and surprisingly, the swiftness in announcing the election results by the IEC, despite the numerous hitches during the entire electoral process, poses numerous concerns about the integrity of the ‘Veritas Team.’

Weighing these options critically, with several antics pulled by various candidates, we leave you, readers, with the option of answering the question:

Was the election free and fair?