Hon. Seun Ordered To Vacate Seat Within 24 Hours

The Election Petition Committee(EPC) has sacked Oketooto Oluwaseun a.k.a Hon. Seun as the Secretary General of the Obafemi Awolowo University Students’ Union and as such given 24 hours to vacate the seat.

In a unanimous decision expressed in separate verdicts delivered by seven (7) members of the Election Petition Committee including the lead verdict from the Chairman of the Committee, Adeyemo Akintunde Nifemi , the mandate given to Oketooto Oluwaseun a.k.a Hon. Seun has been withdrawn and the prayer of the petitioner, Awotiwon Ibiyemi was granted as he was declared the substantive Secretary General elect of the Students’ Union.

Below is a copy of the final verdict delivered by the EPC chairman:
IN THE ELECTION PETITION COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

BEFORE
1. ADEYEMO A.F - CHAIRMAN
2. OLADUNJOYE KEHINDE J. - MEMBER
3. BAMIDELE OLUWASEUN - MEMBER
4. OYEDELE JOHNSON - MEMBER
5. ONI BABAJIDE - P. R. O
6. FADIMU O. Y - MEMBER
7. AKINOKUN AFIZ T. - SECRATARY

BETWEEN
1. AWOTIWON IBIYEMI JOSEPH LAW/2012/104 PETITIONERS
2. ADEJOBI PETER OLA PHA/2010/009
AND
1. OKETOOTO SEUN LANRE PSY/2011/049 RESPONDENTS
2. ELECTORAL COMMISSION, O.A.U, IFE

JUDGEMENT OF THE ELECTION PETITION COMMITTEE
Pursuant to its constitutional mandate to hear any question as to whether or not “any person has been validly elected in any Union election as provided under Article III Section 59 (1)(b) of the Sacrosanct Constitution of the Students’ Union, the Election Petition Committee received petitions from the Petitioners hereof on the 23rd of May, and 26th of May respectively, challenging the eligibility of the respondent, OKETOOTO SEUN LANRE; the Secretary General of the O.A.U, Students’ Union in contesting the 2014/2015 Students’ Union election on the ground of not satisfying the minimum C.G.P.A requirement of 2.5 as provided under section 4 of the 2014/2015 electoral guidelines.

The Election Petition Committee upon the reception of the petitions together with its exhibits granted the first prayer of the first petitioner “ to cause a hearing to be held to determine the truth and validity of the evidence attached to this petition and further determine the eligibility of the 1st respondent.”

In order to determine the exhibits the petitioners relied on as evidence, the Committee invited the Electoral Commission before its hearing on the 25th of May, 2015. The Election Petition Committee upheld the argument of the Electoral Commission, through its Chief Electoral Officer that the requirement of the Commission was the C.G.P.A of candidates at the point of submission as provided under section 4 of the electoral guidelines. Consequently, the argument of the Electoral Commission that it is not but the Division of Students’ Affairs conferred the prerogative to look into the e-portal account of contestants was also affirmed but ordered for the tender of documents the respondent submitted to the Commission before he was allowed to participate in the Election.
The nomination form of the respondent which was received from the Secretary of the Electoral Commission on the 27th of May, 2015 showed that the requirement of the C.G.P.A column on the respondent’s form was blank. It was upon that, the respondent was advised to print out his results from the e-portal in order to clarify issues.
On the 3rd of June, 2015, the respondent submitted before the committee all his results for calculation in order to ascertain his exact C.G.P.A.

On the 8th of June, 2015, upon inviting all parties involved, the C.G.P.A of the respondent was calculated in the proceeding of the committee by OLUGBEMI A. OLUKAYODE and ATEJIOYE ADEMOLA both 500 level students of the Faculty of law. The calculation was transparently done in the presence of all at the proceeding. The figures showed that the C.G.P.A of the respondent up to Harmattan semester of 2013/2014 is 2.48.

The Election Petition Committee hereby finds that the respondent, OKETOOTO SEUN LANRE failed to satisfy the requirement of minimum C.G.P.A of 2.5 as provided for in the 2014/2015 electoral guideline and ought not to have participated in the process at all.

Consequently, he is hereby ordered to forfeit his position as the Secretary General of the Students’ Union within 24 hours.
Furthermore, the 1st runner up in the Election is hereby ordered to be sworn in as the substantive Secretary General of the Students’ Union.

The verdict above was passed by 7 members of the committee out of 9 members of the committee. These indicate that a quorum was formed for the verdict to be passed ab. Initio as a constitutional requirement that must be met by the committee to pass a standing verdict.

Signed
Adeyemo Akintunde F.
Chairman, Election Petition Committee