Adeniran Sodiq
Student Union Government SUG, MAPOLY, had an election of the executive arm, which produced Comrade Sodiq Ajani (aka Optimum) as the 36th SUG president of the prestigious citadel of learning.
The chairman of the electoral body, Shobowale Oluwatobi said that Optimum only needed a single vote to get him into office, as there was no opposition running alongside any of the aspirants who were elected.
The process and conclusion of the election have raised some questions in the minds of many students as to what has become the situation of student unionism in MAPOLY.
Students ask questions such as, why did we have aspirants contesting for SUG posts without a single opposition? Why didn’t we see the aspirants come to canvas and solicit our votes? Why didn’t we see any form of the campaign on campus? Why didn’t we hear about the day of the manifesto?
These are valid questions, begging for answers because things didn’t use to be like this in the past. So, how did we get here?
Part of the observations so far regarding the election process was that the school didn’t lift the ban on campaigns on time and when it did, the lift falls on Easter break and there was no way aspirants could campaign when students were on holiday.
Although, this excuse was not tenable enough because it has always been like that in the past. despite the ban, students would still go round to engage in one on one campaigns or visit them in class when they are less busy but the reverse was the case as this newly elected executive never saw reasons to do that and one could conclude that it was because they had no contender, therefore they were not in a race with anybody, they only needed to walk sluggishly and the prize was still theirs anyways.
Another reason tabled by the concerned authorities for how we got here, is because the executive arm of the SUG was put on suspension for some time, since around 2017, therefore things are just beginning to get revived gradually.
Some stakeholders are also of the opinion that students are no longer interested in unionism as they don’t respond to SUG activities or information like in the past.
It was also discovered that poor circulation of information regards and the process and conduct of the election is also a contributing factor to how we got here. It appeared like there was no deliberate effort to inform the students as some students complained they were never aware of the manifesto. It was like the people responsible for the circulation of information neglected their duties.
Having highlighted some of the factors that got us here, how do we move away from here? Because there is much need for progress right now and a need for a vibrant and effective SUG .
The newly elected representative must make deliberate efforts to orientate students on the importance of having a vibrant SUG on campus, and the reasons why we need an identifiable and legitimate mouthpiece, who is vested with the power and responsibility of speaking for the students.
We have been suffering in silence (or at most, in murmurings), over several issues that have been dealing a strong blow on us and making our academic pursuits a herculean task. Issues like lack of transportation, and there’s nobody to speak for us because don’t have a vibrant SUG.
Not forgetting to mention other issues, some of which emanate from the management and lecturers, like the anti-student policy of no social life on campus, lecturers not coming to class, or even coming late to class, negligence of duty by lectures, and some academic staff who are supposed to aide registration processes. Management has failed to give many of us students ID cards, even after we have registered,so also the issue of late results lingers and nobody to speak up for the students.
Students complain about many anomalies on campus, but unrealize that we are in the best position to fight for ourselves and that fight can only be won through the proper and legitimate channel and that channel is the SUG. But the SUG can not be fully vibrant and effective without students’ deliberate participation and involvement, as paying SUG due is not enough, we must also get involved.
I would also like to take this medium to plead with the legislative arm of the SUG, to quickly look into the SUG constitution and allow students from other schools to partake in SUG elections. These are crucial times and we need every capable hand In service.
As we congratulate the Optimum-led excos, I would like to bring to their notice the most crucial need of this moment which is the return of the SUG election timetable to its normal period. If Optimum could achieve this for the students, his successor would have a full session to plan and revive SUG activities on campus. I, therefore, implore the newly elected executive to work hard within the short time they have in office (as they only have the second semester left in school) and make sure the election that will produce their successors comes up before the second-semester examination.
