Polling Units were made available at every Faculty in order to make it easy for students to come out and vote as the election started at about 8:30 am in some Polling Units and ended 12 noon.
Longgul Dakwom, the Electoral Committee (ELCOM) Presiding Officer, lamented on the poor turnout of students for the SUG election as only a few number of students came out to vote for the aspirants of the vacant offices. “Most students were in class receiving lectures and this hindered a lot of students come out and vote. Even though the turnout of students was very poor the election was free and fair” he said.
Abbas Banyonga Isaac, a voter, said that voting was quite stressful and tough for him because of issues like unverified school fees receipt and joining a very long queue in order to vote. “Furthermore the timing also had issues because the election which was supposed to start at 8 am to 12 noon started late and still ended 12 noon and instead of increasing the time frame because it started late, nothing happened. Concerning the unverified school fees receipt, students should not be blamed because the non-academic staffs are on strike and students cannot complete registration. The strike contributed to the poor turnout of students for the election”.
Statistics obtained from the results of the SUG elections held in 2019 shows that the former SUG president, Dungshuut Peters pulled 1,753 votes and his opponents 911 votes, 222 votes and 15 votes respectively. On the other hand, in this year’s election, the president elect Joshua Adankala got 890 votes. From this statistics it is evident that the numbers of votes have dropped this year.
Peret Dawus, an agent, said the election was free and fair but the turnout of Josites for the SUG election was very poor. “It’s still not bad because some students were able to come out and cast their votes. Yet, students didn’t really turnout for the election because their hope is on the SUG officials to intervene on issues in the hostel and the school at large is dying; students have lost hope”.
In an interview with some students, Reuben Yakubu, a 200 level Economics student, stated he was not able to vote due to tight schedules in school. He could not afford to miss his tests and assignments as it happened to be on the same day the elections were held.Cynthia Olakunle, a 300 level Theatre Arts student, tried explaining why students did not participate. She said a lot of students were busy with assignments and reading up because of the short semester. In her words, “You know we just resumed following the long break due to the ASUU strike and the Coronavirus pandemic, so students are trying to make up for lost time,” .
Others complained that the reason for their political apathy was due to unfulfilled promises by past governments. They didn’t see reasons why they should vote. One of the students who pleaded anonymous said aspirants spend heavily during campaigns, so when elected, they try to recover huge amounts to themselves as a way of replacing their expenses which is not right. In his words “in as much as the position was won, its only proper to use that money to do what was promised for. But reverse is the case. He added that students especially those in school politics must show examples as Nigeria’s future leaders and strive to be youths with a difference.
Arin Joseph Izang from the Security Division Intelligence Unit said the security situation of the 2021 SUG election was “very excellent” due to the availability of men of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria State Security Services and the internal security of the University of Jos. Security measures were fully taken to avoid any form of misconduct or complications during the election. He added that the security apparatus agencies should always be involved because “we are in a social society where without the armed security, students seem to misbehave but because of the presence of armed security students composed themselves. In subsequent elections, the external security should be fully involved in collaboration with the internal security that will give us a very good security output”.
The official results from each polling units were gathered and compiled. The result sheets were signed by the Deputy Dean of Students’ Affairs Division, Dr. Augustine Azi, the Electoral Committee chairman and other members of the committee. The aspirant for the presidential seat, Joshua Adankala David, a 400 level Civil Engineering student emerged the winner with 890 votes against his opponents, Dusu Timothy Sunday who got 610 votes and Yakubu Andy Dafur with 41 votes.The aspirant for the office of the Vice President, Dina Olivia Joshua was unopposed. Others who were unopposed were Illah Lot Ajeh, Joshua Turna Lumi, Jessica Ichi Gye, Zama Aondoseer Emmanuel, Shitse Paul for the posts of Secretary General, Financial Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary and Welfare Secretary respectively.
For the post of the Director of Socials, Oliver Nelson Bintan emerged winner with 641 votes against Agabus Jonathan who got 578 votes and Victor Ameh Adams with 319 votes.
Gowok Wulime Joshua emerged as the Director of Sports and Ebenezer Chidindike Iloadinma as the Public Relations Officer.
For this year’s election, the post for Sales Secretary was vacant because the aspirant was disqualified.
Photo source: Yusuf Kapi By Solomon Yakubu Kaze
