By: Boluwatife Adedokun
Following the policy of 'no school fees no votes' set by the management of Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA) for the 2022/2023 Students Union election, students have knocked the yardstick.
The students in their expressions disclosed that the policy disenfranchised thousands electorates.
In an interview with ECHO MEDIA, the students further lamented that the majority of students have not paid school fees which are seen as a violation of their rights to vote as students of the institution.
A 400-Level student from the Department of Chemistry, Odunoye Mosururoh bemoaned that the policy is disastrous and would disenfranchise the students.
She noted that a larger percentage of students have not paid their school fees which will affect the electoral process.
"They should try to consider us, maybe we can have the opportunity to vote because some people have not paid their school fees and even I haven't paid."
In the same vein, Adeniyi Afeez Taiwo, the President of the Department of Physics described the policy as a suppression of the franchise in its entirety.
He noted that the management should devise other means to ensure urgency in the payment of school fees if there is a need for it and not disenfranchise the students.
In his words, "If there is an urgent need for students to pay their school fees, they (management) should devise another way that will not malign the eligibility of the students in the Union's election," Adeniyi said.
For Omomeyi Oluwaseyi, a 200-Level student of Performing Arts the policy of 'No school fee, No voting', the school should have made use of the 2020/2021 school fee receipts as the voting criteria.
"The election should have been held last session which means the management was supposed to use that as a yardstick not the school fees for this session. I'm pleading to the management to reverse the policy as this will make some aspirants lose votes," he said.
Faith Babatunde, a student from the Department of Performing Arts said he doesn’t support the decision set by the School Management.
"The election was supposed to be held the previous semester, the school management should please amend their policy using the last session’s school fee as a voting criterion, not the present one," he noted.
The candidate for the post of General Secretary, Ojo Oluwatosin Isaac, popularly known as Apostle said the issue has caused tension in the hearts of supporters of some candidates who are yet to pay their school fees.
"This issue is so serious that it is causing tension within the students and has reduced the number of voters drastically. It's not just happening, it's the same criteria for the aspirants. The management can still change it and that's why we are pleading with them."
He added: "There are many students who have not paid. I can not say that I am pleased with it, but the management is just trying to mobilize the students. We are just expecting a positive response from the management. We met the management a few weeks ago pleading that permission should be given to use the last session payment receipt."
Apostle urged the management and SUEC to review the policy and allow those that have paid for the last session to be given a chance to vote.
"We'll only have a very handful of students that will participate in the voting process. The SUEC should reverse this particular order and consider the students so as for the election to be credible," he pleaded.
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