Memorable union poll at PTI

The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun, Delta State, last weekend, came alive with Students’ Union Government (SUG) elections. The election came after weeks of electioneering, which made the campus tense.

Students of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun, Delta State, have elected leaders in a process described as free and fair. GBENGA OJO reports.

The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurun, Delta State, last weekend, came alive with Students’ Union Government (SUG) elections. The election came after weeks of electioneering, which made the campus tense.

Prior to the polls, the aspirants moved round the faculties and departments to canvass for votes. The campus was covered with posters and banners of various shades, but none contained detailed programmes. Students vowed not to vote for any candidate who did not show how he would achieve his programmes.

The electioneering took a dramatic turn when some faceless students pasted a list of aspirants they labelled as “arrogant” and “stingy”. While some of the aspirants rendered free haircuts and tutorials to students, others offered free fumigation in hostel rooms, clearing of drainages, sweeping of corridors and supplying generators to hostels to enable students charge their phones.

To ensure the salient issues of the election were not lost, The Actualisers Team (TAT), a campus press club, organised a debate for the four candidates vying for the union president. They were Theophilus Ukuyoma, Success Ogbe, Joseph Omezi and Wesley Onokpite.

Students listened to the candidates and assessed their manifestoes. Some of the aspirants were booed for their ‘bad grammar’.

Theophilus, was, however, named  Obama, because of his command of the English language.

Wesley, a physically-challenged person, got the audience excited during the manifesto when he said: “Deformity of a man is the deformity of his mind and not his physical deformity.”

The highpoint of the event was the sudden change of the music being played at the debate from hip-hop to worship songs. This doused the tension durimg the debate, as aspirants and their supporters went on their knees to ask  for divine intervention in the election.

The election held last Saturday across the faculties of the Institute. Members of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) and National Association of Polytechnics Students (NAPS) monitored the process to ensure transparency.

When the voting ended, Students’ Affairs Officer Prince Audu Shakamele, declared Theophilus,  HND 1 Mechanical Engineering student, president-elect. Wesley, the physically-challenged candidate and Welding Engineering and Offshore Technology (WEOT) student, came second.

Others elected were Vice President, Jeremiah Bass; General Secretary, Evans Eriamiatoe; Social Director, Obasuyi Osayande; Financial Secretary, Ernest Ememeruria; Assistant-General Secretary, Daniel Udomah, Treasurer, Blessing Monye; Public Relations Officer (PRO), George Anadi; Sport Director, Anthony Igbigbi, and Welfare Director, Cyril Obiora.

Shakamele praised Wesley for displaying “uncommon courage” to contest the election, despite his physical condition. The Students’ Affairs Officer placed Wesley on scholarship as reward for his courage.

Students’ Representative Committee (SRC) member-elect for WEOT, Amadi Nyekachi, promised to pay Wesley’s school fee in the coming session.

In an interview with CAMPUSLIFE, Wesley said he lost the ability to walk when he was two. He said he had never allowed his disability to affect his ambition to be a professional welder. He said: “If intellectuals are to be counted on this campus, I would be one of them.”

Independent Students Electoral Committee (ISEC) Chairman, Daniel Omeife, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the election, stressing that process was not easy.

Rita Chukwu, a student of Electrical Electronics Engineering, described the election as free and fair, urging the losers to accept the results in good faith.

Joseph Omezi, a presidential contestant, said he was satisfied with the outcome of the process, saying: “I lost the election, because Theophilus touched the areas I could not get to.”

The president-elect, Theophilus, thanked students for electing him, promising to execute his programmes.