The Polythecnic Ibadan, on Wednesday conducted the Students’ Union Government election through electronic voting for the first time in the history of the institution.
The voting exercise which recorded no violence compared to the previous ones had Fadare Blessing emerged as the President with 1226 votes while Salako Oluwatosin came as a runner up with 1149 votes.
Similarly, Adekola Yussuf emerged as the General Secretary with 903 votes, while Fasesan Toheeb came behind with 755 votes.
Speaking on the development, the Deputy Registrar Student Affairs, Mrs Ayoade Abosede Olu said the new initiative was to curb the electoral violence which has been a tradition in the institution during electioneering period.
“We started very well and its going on very well. It is the best option that we have now and kudos to the school management for coming out with this idea. The election has been on since morning and you can see people sitting down no tension, we are okay.
“Before now, the election is always mar with violence and crisis but now we all have our peace. The voting is going on peacefully. Students don’t need to be on campus before voting once they can access the portal.
“Both the students and management prefer this system of voting because, there is less stress and it cost-less. Although, there are few challenges but I am sure that there will be improvement in subsequent elections.” she said.
Ayoade also spoke on some of the challenges the exercise faced at the commencement of the election.
“The complaint we had was that some people are voting outside by hacking into the system but that has been resolved everything is normal now.
“It took us a long time before we can calm the candidates down and convince them about this option. We are supposed to have this election since August but we shifted it now to perfect the system because we don’t want any crisis or post-election violence. It takes us long time before we convince them.” She added.
Some of the agents at the collation center who spoke with journalists commended the management of the institution for the initiative. However they call for the need for improvement on the system.
Akpeji Clement, one of the agents said “This is the first time the Poly Ibadan is organizing such an innovative set up of voting online. It is a very good one. Before now there were a lot of anxieties. Students were wondering how it will go about especially how they would log on to the website. But with what we have seen, everything is going fine we hope that other institutions and the government would emulate it to reduce electoral violence
“With this system of voting we have no option than to be satisfied with the outcome of election. Although a lot of students were unable to vote base on the fact that we have to log in with our second semester school fee receipt. The fact that I have not paid my school fee receipt doesn’t mean that I am not a bonafide student of the Polythecnic of Ibadan.” he said.
Also speaking, Oyekunle Yusuf called for the need for voting education.
He said “We are aware but I think they need to give us demo to know how to go about it. Not every students are familiar with this new system. But it is a very democratic way of electing our leaders “
The school Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Soladoye Adewole while briefing journalists on the development said the school management set up electoral committee which included Faculty officers, Student representative council (SRC), Student Press Council and others to decide on what modalities to adopt for the election and the e-voting was the best option.
He also added that aside violence, the new initiative has helped to reduce the cost of campaign during election.
Other candidates that emerged are Mustapha Elizabeth as the Treasurer, Adeboyeku Stephen emerged as the Social Director 1, Peter Samuel emerged as the Sport Director 1.
Alabi Damilola emerged as the PRO 2, Olayinka Olatunji emerged as the Welfare 2 and Soretire Bukunmi emerged as the Auditor.
