OAU Electoral Chairman Moves Against Congress, Makes Decision Without Congressional Input

OAU Kilonshele

Efem Castro, Electoral Chairman

The  Electoral Chairman of Obafemi Awolowo University Students' Union, Efem Castro, violated congressional rules in Wednesday's congress when he moved against the congress and made a decision without any congressional input. 

The main purpose of Wednesday's congress was to lift the electoral ban - however, during the congress, issues on restrictions that will be placed on contestants were raised. In recent elections, there had been a minimum requirement of 2.5 CGPA to contest for any position in the Students' union. This restriction is not constitutional and this platform learnt that the requirement is also not traditional. According to the electoral chairman, this requirement was brought up by the school management for a political purpose. 

The first five submissions given regarding this issue all called for the requirement to be eradicated. Subsequent submissions, some made by members of the electoral commission, called for the retainment of the requirement.  A decisional vote on the issue was supposed to be made by the congress but was delayed - and then minutes later, the electoral chairman started reiterating "ban has been lifted, you can now start campaigning." As at the time of the reiteration, there had been no vote on whether the requirement should be eradicated or retained - and the debate about the requirement is linked to the lifting of the electoral ban. The reiteration led to fracas but calmness was restored after a while. 

After the restoration of calmness, congress called for a vote on the issue. Notwithstanding congress' call - Castro, the electoral chairman, decided that since the electoral commission members were elected by students across faculty, they could be trusted to vote on the requirement. He then called for a motion for adjournment while neglecting raised hands. The congress was adjourned without a decision on the CGPA requirement and a counter to the "ban has been lifted" reiteration. 

Violation of congressional rules was a recurring theme in the administration of Dr. IBk, the ex-president of the Students' union before its ban. Dr. IBk was known for avoiding submissions from people he considered opponents by neglecting them. All these themes were present during Wednesday's congress. 

This is not the first time the Castro-led electoral commission will be making an unconstitutional and controversial decision. Last month, a member of the commission was made head of the security committee - a decision that was based on controversial precedence.