UNICAL students allege fraud in SUG election

•No, it was transparent, says VC
Some students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) have condemned the electronic voting system used in the last Students Union election. They accused the school authority of manipulating the system to install their preferred candidates and gag the union.The electronic voting system was adopted by the Calabar University Electoral Commission (CUECO) during the election, with some aspirants and students faulting the result of the poll.

One of the candidates (name withheld on request), who contested for the SUG President, alleged that there was a deliberate attempt by some officials of the university to rig the election, noting that the pin that was sent to him were already used.

“I collected over 800 pins from my supporters but at the end of the exercise we were able to use only 15 pins. Majority of the pins we collected had already been used. For me, the election was rigged; the list of the registered students was hijacked by some highly placed officials in the institution for a particular student. For my opponent to defeat me with such margin, it was obvious that the election was rigged. Even my supporters find it very difficult to log in to the site,” he said.

Speaking after declaring the result, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. James Epoke praised the electoral body for the new development, adding that the electronic voting system has come to stay in the university.

According to the Vice Chancellor, electronic voting has nipped electoral fraud in the bud and achieved the familiar slogan of ‘One Man, One Vote’. He said the electronic voting was quite credible, thereby setting the Students Union Government on the path of sustainable growth.

Also speaking, Prof. Eyong Ubana Eyong, Dean of Students Affairs, said the e-voting was the best option for a well developed university like UNICAL, noting that no student would be disenfranchised because electorates can cast their votes from any location.

The Secretary to the electoral committee, Mrs. Emem Akpan, described the exercise as peaceful and orderly, promising that there would be improvement in subsequent exercise.

Although some students applauded the results, others expressed their dissatisfaction with the process, considering the difficulty encountered in logging in with the secret pin. Also, there were concerns that the election was held when lots of students had finished their examination and travelled.

Our reporters, who monitored the exercise, noted that a day before the election, students were canvassing for votes using the social media, student’s group pages on Facebook, selling their programmes while others were busy combing the nook and cranny of the said site to make sure that the system would not be rigged.

On the day of the election, students clustered at the front of the new library of the institution. The election started at 10am. Voters were assigned different codes on the eve of the election via text messages to login and vote for their candidate of their choice. Agents of respective contestants monitored the exercise, while observers and the university security men paraded the venue to guard against possible fraud. Student’s votes were seen dropping as they cast their votes from various destinations.

Students of different faculties were mobilized by their respective faculty leaders to participate in the exercise.

At the Faculty of Basic Medical Science, students clustered around computers, waiting to vote. The Faculty President, Akporido Peter, said his faculty decided to make computers available with external internet access facility to enable students to participate fully in the exercise.

He said, “As a faculty, we are aware of the challenges that some students will be facing with the e- voting system, which is lack of internet access. Right now, the university internet service is switched off, so we made this effort to provide laptops and internet access for them”.

It was the same trend at the Faculty of Law, Clinical Science, and in several other faculties in the university while the election lasted.

When our reporters visited the male hostel, known as Malabor Republic, it was gathered that some aspirants funded the provision of laptops and internet access at strategic points in the bid to get their supporters cast votes in their favour.

One of the electorates, who identified herself as Stella, said she was not allowed to vote at a particular voting centre because she was not in support of their anointed candidate.

“I saw some group of students with laptops who were voting, I decided to vote there with their laptop, but when it was my turn, they wanted me to vote for their own chosen candidate but I refused. So, they ask me to leave and vote elsewhere. When I got to the e- library to vote, I was told by one of the operators there that the internet service is down, I angrily went home without casting my vote”.

At another voting centre, a scuffle ensued 30 minutes to the end of the voting, when supporters of one aspirant brought a secret pin to the computer operator for voting. When the supporters noticed that the computer operator was not voting for their candidates, they started quarreling, which was promptly settled by the university security men.

At the control room of the electronic system, agents of the candidates and several observers of the process monitored the electoral process. Most of them adjudged the exercise as free and fair.

The outgoing Director of Social, Usese Williams, complained that students at the Center For Educational Services, otherwise known as part- time students, had difficulty in voting. He said they were not able to log in with the secret pin assigned to them.

Emmanuel Ajagbe, a part -time student, said voters experienced similar difficulty at Malabor Republic, as they were unable to log in with the code they were given. When the election ended at 2:00pm, many students complained bitterly that they were disenfranchised by the electronic system.

The chairman of the electoral committee, Dr. Anozeng Igiri announced the result few minutes later. It was gathered that 1,171 students voted. The electoral committee declared Ajang Emmanuel, a student from Faculty of Law as the president elect, securing 682 votes to defeat his two opponents, Akaobi Emmanuel and Akaobi Nelson, both from Faculty of Science.

Other elected candidates were: Akpan Inemesit from Faculty of Allied Medical Science who gathered 617 votes to emerge the Vice President, defeating her two opponents, Henshaw Blessing and Jennifer Oworhji. Also, Nsisong Brenda from Faculty of Allied Medical Science polled 678 votes to defeat other four opponents for the position of Director of Sports, while Chima Akpelu won the Director of Information.

Other include: Aniah Paschal, Alawa John, Michael Okon, Okori Michae who went unopposed as Secretary General, Director of Welfare, Financial Secretary and Deputy Secretary General respectively.

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