…ask that swearing-in be postponed until justice is served.
Three days after the 2023 University of Benin’s Students Union Government election which saw Israel Nmonye declared president by 2692 votes amongst other positions, an open letter written by Scott Ogunseri, a presidential candidate from the faculty of physical sciences rejecting the results he termed massive rigging has surfaced on various WhatsApp platform.
Scott who garnered 2465 votes in his petition written on 15th of February, 2023, claimed that 100-level, direct entry students and non-students who are not eligible to vote were allowed to vote in some polling units, mentioning the School of Basic Medicine and Dentistry especially.
The candidate Even when Scott’s polling unit agent objected right there, he was threatened. “I congratulated Foster Amadin when he won the poll in an election that I also participated in in 2021. However, I strongly condemn the electoral robbery which took place yesterday at the polling unit of the School of Medicine and Dentistry”, he wrote.
The computer Science student, however, prayed that the inauguration of the announced elected officers be on hold till the students court sits over the case in which he hopes to regain his stolen mandate.
“It is evident from the results of polls across other Faculties that I am the mandate of the University of Benin Students.”
“As a law-abiding student of the University of Benin, I shall head for the SUG Court, as the last hope of the common UNIBEN students, to reclaim students’ stolen mandate.”
“For the time being, I appeal to our Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mrs. Lillian Imuetiyan Salami, the Electoral Commission, the Dean of Students and all relevant stakeholders in the management of the University of Benin, to suspend the inauguration of Israel Nmonye as President of the SUG, pending the determination of this case by the SUG Court.”