The presidential election of the Federation of Iwoland Students’ Union (FILSU) held on December 31st, 2021 at Oluwo palace has been declared null and void as a result of malpractices and irregularities.
Alatise Ibrahim’s suit at the Osun State High Court is to be withdrawn for peace to reign. Also, the electoral committee led by Akinloye John Oyewole has been dissolved after admitting the election was marred with irregularities.
The FILSU general election held on December 31st, 2021 was conducted for all offices; President, Vice-president, Secretary, PRO and others. However, there were some issues and disparities regarding the total number of votes cast and used ballot papers, most particularly the presidential candidates’ votes.
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That for the purpose of the election, 500 ballot papers were printed by the electoral commission chaired by Oyewole Akinloye John, 259 voters were accredited and 241 were unused papers. Upon the counting of votes, 258 votes were recorded for all candidates of the CEC while a total number of 307 votes were counted and recorded for the office of the President which was from the same ballot papers as that of other offices.
Though AbdulKabeer Adegoke politically known as ‘Boutique’ was declared as the winner and president-elect by the chairman of FILSU Electoral Chairman. However, Alatise Ibrahim as one of the presidential aspirants headed to court to seek a fresh election and to restrict Adebayo AbdulKabeer Adegoke politically known as ‘Boutique‘ from parading himself as the 2022 FILSU president-elect.
The aftermath of the FILSU election has generated a lot of heat and exchanging of words from the camp of Alatise Ibrahim and AbdulKabeer Adegoke. For peace to reign and lasting solutions to be reached, the FILSU Alumni/Stakeholders called for a meeting to ensure all hands were on the desk.
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In a highly tense meeting that lasted for more than 4 hours, the following 12 resolutions were reached:
1. The case instituted in court has to be withdrawn and alternative dispute resolution should come in.
2. The alumni resolved that this is the first time FILSU Election will be held with so many irregularities pointed out and there was a unanimous agreement that the irregularities were substantial and damaging. The Electoral Committee that conducted the Election, chaired by Akinloye John Oyewole admitted the irregularities too.
3. That, having considered and agreed the Presidential Election was marred with so many irregularities, the Election is therefore cancelled.
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4. The Alumni held that the Electoral Committee, particular the electoral Chairman cannot be absorbed of the malpractices and have evidently compromised, therefore, the present Electoral Committee stands dissolved
5. A new date, April 16, 2022 has subsequently been fixed for a re-run of the FILSU Presidential Election.
6. The Alumni held that the Chapters of the Union will be asked to submit the list of their Executive officers and a new Electoral Committee will be set up from the list submitted
7. Forthwith, FILSU Elections will no longer be held at the Oluwo’s Palace
8. Non-students should have no right to appointments or elective positions in the union
9. So as not to create a vacuum in the union, the Vice-President should be accorded the constitutional right to take over the union in an acting capacity, pending the time a fresh Presidential election will be conducted. Therefore, the Vice-President and other executive members will be sworn-in tomorrow, 9th of January, 2022.
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10. The SJC of the union led by Prince Abdulmujeeb Abioye Tadese should be dissolved having served meritoriously for one parliamentary year.
11. The Electoral Petition Committee that was hurriedly constituted last week, but was dissolved a few days later has to be reconstituted, this time around, in accordance with the provision of the union constitution.
12. For peace to continue to reign, factions in the union should be suppressed.
In his reaction to the resolutions, Alatise Ibrahim said: “The mandate is yet not for anyone to rejoice on until a re-run is done and the winner is declared through a free, fair and credible election.”
“My surge and inspiration to challenge the credibility of the nullified election should be the toughest if not the most difficult decision I have made over the years.”
“Yes, it is important to note that at no point would I have to regret the bold step to arrest the future occurrences of such my name to be dragged in a mess. Alatise Ibrahim concluded.
