The Niger Delta University Students’ Union Government elections have been concluded at about 1:30pm of Friday 21st April, 2023. Generally, the elections were peaceful, noticeably free and fair, quick and without any seen manipulations. The management team tried to distance itself from activities which will be deemed manipulative. Reports also revealed that the VC did not visit the situation room to avoid being reported as influencing the process.
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The elections were slated to hold 9:00am to 12:00pm. However, the elections actually started 9:49am – a period of 49minutes late. Additionally, rather than conclude at 12:00pm, it was extended to 1:00pm due to technical issues with the server which resulted in change of voting platform and finally culminated at 1:30pm.
There were no polling units but centres created by agents to gather their supporters to provide voting assistance like guidelines, data, technical issues, etc. The only official venue was the situation room provided by the Eleco which was the Faculty of Education conference hall, main campus.
The time between 9:00 to 9:49 when voting officially commenced were used to make last minutes adjustments in the process. The last minutes adjustment includes denial of students with default fee only and removal of course enrolment pin as a login requirement. Other later adjustments were creation of alternate portal when the voting platform had server challenges.
Voting commenced with several reports of portal not loading, very slow, etc. The voting however, continued till 10:40 when the voting portal (election.nduscreening.com) broke down. Another one was immediately setup at 10:50 with all votes transferred. The new portal was election.nduportal.com.
While the agents in the situation room followed through the process of voting portal change and remained calm, it however, caused disarray within the campus and beyond. The Management team held that they felt the elections were to be suspended as a result of the hitches as there cannot be an election where a portal is changed halfway into elections. However, seeing how calm the agents were looking, it gave credence to the belief that they understood the process and approve that the elections should go on.
Voting continued thenceforth without further glitches till 12:15 when it was unanimously agreed by all agents that the elections should stop by 1:00pm. The voting conclusion button was clicked by the ELECO chairman at exactly 1:00pm. The ICT team ensured they carried the agents and observers along as a lack of understanding of what is going on could cause serious obstructions.
Votes
From the beginning of the voting till the end, the presidential candidates maintained huge difference, giving a gap of 100, 400, 700 and beyond. The votes finally concluded at 1,518 for Apiri B. Precious and Adam Powei at 434. Other noticeable candidates were that of the Vice President in which Jimmy Famous was leading, overtook by Biobelemoye Ghandi and was later lead by Jimmy.
Security
The environment was not secured from the start of the voting. There were no element nor indicators of possible security breaches but the management team later invited security personnel to secure the parameter of the venue. Security concerns later came from outside when the portal was changed. However, all concerns were resolved. Till the conclusion of the elections, there have been not major records of security issues.
Voting Portal
The portal for the voting was initially election.nduscreening.com. However, 51mins into the voting, the platform crashed and a new one was made available by the ICT team. The new portal was election.nduportal.com. The integrity of the portal was not subjected to our test as there was not provision made available for independent reporters and observers to make. Nevertheless, the platform served the purpose to which it was made.
Access to live results
Initially, the results were projected live on a big projectile but were later taken down. The results went live again after questioning as to why the results were no more projected live. The projection continued till the elections were concluded.
The Agents
All candidates sent in their agents; one agent to one candidate. The agents observed all manner of decency throughout the voting period as there was no report of disruption unless for the change of the portal halfway. When the portal was changed, several persons raised concerns including the agent for the presidential candidate. However, after a brief explanation, the whole place became calm again.
Observers
Election observers, majorly the A & U Ng and the Wilberforce Tv team were on ground all through the event to observe the proceedings. Observation was permitted, results were recorded live and aired live on Facebook. There were no cases of stoppage of media works.
Final results
After the voting were the following candidates emerged as winners:
- Apiri Baimanologi Precious for President
- Jimmy Peremoboere Famous for Vice President
- Adjekavwen Jeremiah Agberia – Secretary
- Edoumiekumo Oyintari Prosper – Assistant Secretary General
- Ogidi Odinaka Gratitude – Treasurer
- Isoh Divine Nwachukwu – Financial Secretary
- Cavallari Enrico – Director of Socials
- George Esiojano – Director of Welfare
- Esidje Omamuromu Nelson – Public Relations Officer
- Enoch Kemepade – Director of Transport
- Peres Churchill – Director of Sports
- Asamaowei Molly – Provost
Congratulations to all the winners.
Congratulations to the ELECO SMIC
Congratulations to the Niger Delta University.
