By: Victor Ogunyemi
The Great Independence Hall of Residence voting conduct, slated for today, Friday, 26th of April, 2024, as of the time of this report, has witnessed what some residents of the hall described as ‘undue delay’.
The electoral process which was yet to commence by 9:50am, time of this report, has raised reactions from student-residents who had arrived to exercise their voting right.
Speaking to Indypress, some residents of the hall expressed dissatisfaction, as regards the initial electoral conduct of the electoral body, KRIEC, faulting its delay in the commencement of the main voting exercise.
“It was announced prior to this time that the election will be starting by 9am, but this is to 10am and the election is yet to start fully. This shows that the committee is not really keeping to time because we have a lot of people that are busy and people that are going out, so the time should be kept. If we start late, it means we are finishing late, if we start early, it means we are finishing early” Fagbamila Joseph said.
“Another thing I noticed is that prior to this time, the candidates and Katangites should have known the method through which the election would take place. We were just informed this morning that it would be an online voting election. They should have informed us for accountability and transparency sake. Also, imagine having almost one thousand Katangites here, and there are two systems available for voting. Last session we had almost more than twelve systems on ground so everybody can come and vote, it would be much easier. Though they said they are making provisions for more systems, but this thing should be put in place to ensure an effective process so people will continue with their day” Fagbamila added.
Another resident of the hall, Hon. Olorunfemi Samuel has implored the electoral body to maximize time management, as individuals may have other responsibilities to attend to.
“This is not what we have been told initially, if we look at other hostels, they did this thing online. You gave us a procedure, and we want to adhere to it. And all of a sudden, they postponed the election two hours to the time of voting, which is not proper. Now again, they have fixed another date which we all agree, this is the day and there are still a lot of glitches. You ought to start the election at 9am, as at now this is 9:35 am and there is no mode of election. There is nothing obvious that elections will start any time soon. We want the election to be transparent and everyone will cast their votes as soon as possible. Everybody has one or two things to do, now that they are delaying us, we’ve not started the election, when will we start and when will we get theresult. For further election, they should do what has to be done in due time” Olorunfemi Samuel said.
Former Secretary of State, Oluwalonimi Ogungbure, in his own words, has called on the electoral body to address all raised concerns as regards the conduct of the electoral process.
“I have been quiet about the electoral processes earlier, but I was informed some moments ago that only two computers have been provided for the voting exercise. We cannot proceed this way as we experienced several network glitches in the past elections when ten (10) computers were available. The candidates have also briefed me that they are not aware of the voting process which is against the standards of elections in Independence Hall” Lonimi said.
“I have witnessed and actively participated in two (2) elections within the hall and candidates were always pre-informed about the voting processes before the D-Day. Now, the KRIEC is introducing a new method without speaking to the candidates whose supporters are already waiting to move into the cafeteria and vote. They cannot rush us to vote when we were not previously updated about the changes. In my opinion, it is either we cancel today’s election or the KRIEC does the right thing” he added.
