By Adesina Emmmanuel
In a press conference held with the Association of Campus Journalists, ACJ, on Saturday, 21, August 2021, the Great Ife Students' Union Electoral Commission clarified the modalities of the scheduled elections.
The commission's leadership led by Mr. Ajayi Oluwafemi further detailed the intentions behind the election calendar while answering questions from the press. The press conference came as part of the preparations toward the Students' Union elections which would be taking place in the coming weeks.
When asked about the 2.5CGPA as the minimum CGPA for every aspirant contesting for a post at the Students' Union Level, the chairman of the electoral commission explained that the use of the CGPA was a law adopted and signed by OAU Governing Council. He noted that the electoral commission pushed for the removal of the CGPA requirement. But the institution's vice-chancellor explained that he would have to table their request to the Governing Council of Obafemi Awolowo University. This, he said, is contrary to the rumors that the Electoral Commission itself initiated the idea.
However, the chairman spoke about the exemption of Part 1 students contesting for posts at the HEC level from the CGPA criteria because by this time do not have CGPA yet. He also assured that every candidate vying for a position has met the electioneering requirement and fulfilled all guidelines.
Following a broadcast that showed a change in the deadline for submitting nomination forms, the commission was asked to explain the reason behind the conflicting dates. According to the chairman, the date change was to ensure a swift preparation for the election. He noted that it was impossible to print ballot papers within the stipulated time.
“We have to put so many things into consideration, and the number one thing is that the election materials should be ready. There is one election material that is so sensitive, the ballot paper. If the nomination form should close on Thursday, we have only Friday to print the ballot papers. This means we would be giving the printer 24 hours to work on almost 10,000 ballot papers for the HEC election coming up on Saturday. If he should fail in delivery, Great Ife students would not be pleased. In order to give the printer enough time, we had to change the date for the deadline.”
He furthered that the change in the screening date would not affect any other schedule on the calendar. At the end of the conference, the chairman assured the generality of Great Ife that the election would be free, fair, and transparent.
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