Electoral Commission and Electoral Petition Commission Appointed Amid SRC Sitting Chaos

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By Bukola Fatoba 
The Great Ife Students' Representative Council's (SRC) business meeting, held on Sunday, 15th June 2025, at Ajose Lecture Theatre, took an unexpected turn as tensions flared over the appointment of the 2023/24 Academic Session's Students’ Union Electoral Commission, leading to a significant disruption in proceedings.

The sitting, convened to resume the recess and proceed with the address of outstanding agenda items from the previous sitting, commenced with the presentation of sessional reports from various halls of residence. This was followed by a debate and subsequent approval of the statements of the reports given by the Hall Chairpersons. These segments proceeded peacefully, without any form of disruption or uproar.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere shifted dramatically when the union assembly moved to the appointment of the Electoral Commission, whose responsibilities are to oversee and conduct the forthcoming Students’ Union elections. Disagreements ensued regarding the nomination process and the eligibility criteria for prospective commission members. Some representatives questioned the transparency of the selection process, while others raised concerns about potential biases from Oladepo Olakunle, the SRC Speaker; hence, some members of the house demanded impartiality in the commission's composition.


The drama began after the SRC Speaker recognised Fatoyinbo Azeez, an Honourable from the Faculty of Social Sciences, to nominate a candidate. This move was immediately met with resistance from some members of the House, also from the Faculty of Social Sciences, who insisted that the selected Honourable should not be the one to make the nomination, thereby demanding the Speaker recognise someone else instead.

The Speaker, however, stood his ground, asserting his authority to recognise any Honourable from any faculty for the nomination process. At the time of this disagreement, 13 of the intended 15 electoral commission members had already been constituted. As the SRC Speaker was about to finalise the 13 members of the electoral commission as opposed to the 15 he earlier stated will be selected, a louder uproar ensued, laden with tension, as the President of the Great Ife Students' Union, Omobiriowo Isaac (Dr Bush), protested against this.
 The Union President, Dr. Bush, visibly furious, expressed his dissatisfaction as he moved away from his seat towards the Speaker in an aggressive manner that nearly led to a physical altercation. The house was thrown into complete tension. The swift intervention of the OAU security personnel present helped to suppress the confrontation. The incident caused an abrupt pause in the proceedings, with members exiting amidst chaos, shouting in confusion.

The clash, however, sparked controversy among the honourables and students in attendance, with many questioning the interest of the union leaders in the nomination process.

Following the heated confrontations, the sitting was halted without any formal announcement. As all this was ongoing, the Students' Union President announced the sudden convening of a general congress to be held at 9:30 PM, a move which directly clashed with the timing of the ongoing SRC sitting. The announcement, however, had little effect on the honourables as they were focused on proceeding with the sitting without regard for the president's announcement. Shortly after the disruption, however, the sitting resumed under a visibly tense atmosphere.
The Students' Union President's Call for an emergency congress.

Upon resumption, Dr. L.O Olasukanmi, the Vice Dean of the Division of Students' Affairs (DSA), addressed the House with stern disappointment. He condemned the earlier misconduct, emphasising that the behaviour displayed was unbecoming of responsible student leaders. He warned that a full report of the incident would be submitted to the Vice Chancellor.

Nonetheless, the Vice Dean concluded his remarks with a stern warning for orderliness and decorum moving forward. With the atmosphere relatively calmed, the sitting continued. The members of the electoral commission include Matthew Ehundor (Faculty of Agriculture) as the Chairman, Audu Salam (Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences) as the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Olumide Odunayo (Faculty of Administration) as the Financial Secretary, Dotunodun Joshua (Faculty of Arts) as the Secretary, Akinboade Niyi Joseph (Faculty of science), ADELODUN Precious-love Cornelius (Faculty of pharmacy), OLOYEDE Kehinde Temitayo (Faculty of Education), ADEBAYO Samuel Obaloluwa (Faculty of social sciences), BANKOLE Samuel Dolapo (Faculty of Agriculture), DADA Darasimi (Faculty of dentistry), SUNMONU Quadri Oluwasegun (Faculty of Technology), ALONGE Isreal (Faculty of Computing Science and Engineering), Olanegan Olamitaayo (Faculty of Law), and Adeyemi Abdullahi O. (Faculty of EDM).

The sitting then progressed to the appointment of Electoral Petition Officers, a crucial body responsible for handling election disputes. Nine petition officers were nominated and confirmed by honourable members through standard parliamentary procedures. Despite the day’s chaos, the sitting reached its climax with the swearing-in of the newly appointed Electoral Commission and Electoral Petition Officers.

After all this, members dispersed and left the hall, indicating the adjournment of the SRC business meeting for the day. However, minutes after the adjournment, the Students' Union President released a memo announcing the postponement of the earlier called congress.
Students' Union President's Memo about the postponement of the congress.

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