Ballot Box Snatching, Electoral Malpractice Mar FUOYE Student Union Election

The Federal University Oye-Ekiti held its 2020/2021 Student Union election on Friday the 2nd of July, 2021.

The election process was marred by ballot box snatching and electoral malpractice as aspirants induced voters and campaigned during the day. 

At 1:31 pm, the Faculty of Science witnessed a significant case of ballot box snatching during the voting process. Students did not come along with their school ID card and stamped the course registration form, which served as a means to vote. 

Students came with library cards, school fees receipts and phones to show their portal but the electoral committee did not allow them to vote because they failed to bring along the accepted identification for voting. This left many students unable to vote.

In an interview with this reporter, Ridwan Oyeniyi, a 200 level student of Biochemistry who was present at the polling unit explained the reason behind the ballot box snatching.

“They were allowing other faculties to use other means of identification and they were not allowing us. It looked like favouritism. So, that brought the issue of the ballot box being snatched away,” he explained.

Reports also have it that some students names do not appear on the student list while the election process was disrupted in a polling unit after the ballot box was snatched.

A student of Mass Communication, Damilola Ayobami, suffered a similar fate. Despite being a student of the school, her name did not appear on the list. “I wasn’t allowed to vote because my name is not on the printed list,” she shared.

Chika Asogwa, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences addressed the issue.

“My students reported to me that their names do not appear on the register. They are students. So, I have been able to reach the Dean of Students Affairs who asked us to find a way of identifying them,” she said.

In the Faculty of Social Sciences, the main auditorium polling unit witnessed a case of electoral malpractice where an electorate was caught with two ballot papers.

As a result of the irregularities, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Dosu Malomo, the Dean of Students’ Affairs has, on Sunday, 4th of July, 2021, announced the suspension of the Student Union election.

In a meeting called for by Abayomi Fasina, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, a proposal was made by the Vice-Chancellor to change the voting process to an electronic version to avoid a ‘security breach.

“I think our organising team should be refined with integrity. On this note, another election shall take place on the 13th of July, it is going to be via e-voting,” he noted at the meeting.

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Captions:

1) Students chasing after the ballot box snatcher

2) Ballot papers pour away from the ballot box snatched by the student

3) Two ballot papers for a candidate a student was caught with

4) Students await the election result after a peaceful voting process at the Ikole campus