By Babatunde Emmanuel

The Students’ Representatives Council (SRC) election of the University of Ibadan, conducted by the Students’ Union Electoral Commission on Saturday, November 7, 2026, has raised questions and concerns over publicity and awareness campaigns aimed at informing students about the election and the candidates.

IndyPress spoke to a number of UIites who shared their views on the election. While some criticised the poor publicity, others pointed out flaws in the conduct of the election.

Deborah, a UI student from Awo Hall, shared her experience of the election.

“I didn’t even know about it at all. I just saw the link and I pressed it, then I voted randomly because I couldn’t even recognise those candidates. The link, everything and the whole election set-up were not properly announced. If not for my message popping up, I wouldn’t have known that there’s an election,” she said.

“A few minutes after I had voted, that was when some executives in my hostel came to tell us that there’s an election today,” she added.

Busari Aliu, from Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, also commented on the election’s publicity and awareness efforts.

“I won’t answer all the questions. The publicity is poor, but on a scale of 1–10, I’ll give it 5.5. My vote is confidential, and my take on the election is simply that they can do better on the publicity. Also, the election portal should be improved by showing candidates’ pictures,” he said.

Also speaking with IndyPress, Heritage, from the Faculty of Education, said she received an email about the election but was unfamiliar with its purpose.

“I received an email, even though I don’t know what the election is all about. Also, I was unable to see the pictures of the sixteen candidates contesting in the election, so I just had to vote for them all,” she said.

“The only comment I can give is that I don’t know them and their pictures were not showing,” she added.

Speaking with residents of Independence Hall, Tofunmi and Isaac also shared their experiences.

Tofunmi explained that although he eventually voted, he was unaware that the election was taking place until some SRC candidates approached him in the reading room that afternoon.

“To me, the publicity was poor. Two SRC candidates approached me when I was in the reading room this afternoon, and that was how I became aware of the ongoing election. If they had not shown up, I wouldn’t have voted,” he said.

Also speaking with IndyPress, Isaac, a resident of Independence Hall, said he was unaware of the election before it commenced.

“Not at all. It was this morning I began to see contestants’ flyers of their intent they sent yesterday or so,” he said.

When asked about his assessment of the election’s publicity, he expressed concerns about the limited time available for contestants to campaign and create awareness among students.

“First, I think the time frame is small because, if there’s enough time, contestants will take their time to campaign well to get student awareness,” he said.

“Also, the campaign was not intense enough.

“Even though it was a virtual campaign, it still doesn’t catch student awareness as it is expected to. I guess the reason why the campaign wasn’t intense was because there are many, so it makes the election quite different from the S.U. election that seems to be an interhall competition. These are my little observations,” he added.