SUG Elections: FUOYE Students accused Management of rigging, demands justice

Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us

Students of the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti have accused the university management of manipulating the recent Student Union Government elections to favour their preferred candidates. The students claimed that the electoral guidelines were disregarded, and the results were skewed to secure victory for loyalists and surrogates.

For further information on education, read more details here

Ajayi, one of the students, alleged that the election was delayed due to technical issues and that the extension of voting hours was unjust. “The election was supposed to start at 9:00 am and end by 3:00 pm, but it was delayed until 12:30 pm due to technical issues. By 5:00 pm, when our presidential candidate was leading, they announced an extension without any explanation. Then, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, they extended it again. At that point, we couldn’t even monitor the results anymore.

Another student, Ola, echoed Ajayi’s claims, accusing the university’s ICT team and management of colluding to influence results. “They manipulated the elections. It wasn’t just the presidency that was rigged. The ICT crew and the school management were behind it. They extended the election beyond the six-hour limit stated in the guidelines. At first, voting required an OTP, but when it became clear we were winning, they suddenly removed that requirement.

A third student, Remi, accused the university of marginalizing the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences and manipulating the vote count. “This isn’t the first time the management has rigged elections to favour their chosen candidates. The election was officially scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., but it didn’t begin until noon due to so-called technical glitches. Just before the extended closing time of 6:00 p.m., the Electoral Committee again extended voting by another hour, with no formal communication to students.”

For further information on education, read more details here

Remi further explained how the one-time password system caused major disruptions. “The OTPs weren’t being delivered. About 10 of us went to the situation room in Ado to report it, and they promised to fix it. We even suggested removing the OTP, but the CSO insisted the rules couldn’t change mid-election. Eventually, they extended voting till 6:00 p.m., and by that time, Olaleye Temitope Oluwagbemiga was leading. Then, around 5:55 p.m., they suddenly removed the OTP requirement and shut down the portal. By 7:00 p.m., Olaleye was still ahead by about 13 votes. But just two minutes later, the portal failed, and suddenly they announced that his opponent had won by 19 votes. We’re left wondering how that happened.”

However, the Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Wasiu Oyedoku-Ali, dismissed the allegations as unfounded. “These allegations are far from the truth. For the first time in recent years, the acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olubunmi Shittu, ensured that no one tampered with the election results. In addition to the ICT Director who normally oversees the e-voting, the acting VC introduced additional checks to safeguard the process.”

Oyedoku-Ali also mentioned that the university involved the ASUU chairman and created a monitoring team for the elections. “There were indeed technical glitches because many students tried to vote simultaneously, which caused vote processing delays. At first, the VC insisted that the OTP should not be dropped to prevent unauthorised access to student details. However, due to mounting protests, a meeting was convened with the agents of all candidates and key stakeholders. Out of the 29 attendees, only three opposed suspending the OTP,” he explained.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post