The aspirant for the position of Vice-president, Miss Yomi Fola- Oyetayo has withdrawn from the electoral race. This comes after it was reported by the Press that during the screening process that held on Monday, 25th of April, 2022, her friend was said to have changed her time of arrival from 5.01pm to 4.58pm. This report generated alot of uproar from UIMSAites as they debated on whether a candidate that allowed her friend to alter her time, had the integrity to be allowed to continue in the vice-presidential race.

In our efforts to get Miss. Fola-Oyetayo’s side of the story, she addressed a letter to the Press where she stated that she had written the correct time in both attendance sheets. However, she had taken the fact that her friend had changed the time with levity and felt she was going to change it back by herself before going in, which she eventually forgot. She then proceeded to withdraw from the race. A copy of the letter is shown below.

In our efforts to get across to the Head of the electoral committee, she stated what transpired saying:
Good afternoon. This is to shed more light on the incident that occurred yesterday during the screening exercise. We noticed the foul play in the course of the aspirant’s screening and it was immediately probed into by the committee where she admitted to being aware of the foul play.

We decided to proceed with the interview, after which her aggregate score amounted to >50%. While the committee agreed that the aspirant exhibitied questionable moral conduct, there was also no constitutional basis to fault the said the aspirant.

The situation was further deliberated upon and an objective assessment, bearing in mind her score alongside the constitutional provisions was made. It was concluded it was more logical to keep the aspirant in the competition, considering that the basis for her objective qualification outweighed the moral misconduct (for which she admitted).

While the electoral committee deemed her fit to contest, the aspirant herself deemed herself unfit to contest. This now begs the question of whose fault this shameful situation lies on; the aspirant whose time was changed but chose to take it with ‘little resiastance’, the electoral committee who noticed the misconduct but decided to allow her proceed or the time changer herself, whose identity the vice-presidential aspirant and the electoral committee have vehemently refused to reveal.

Furthermore, it is important to note that according to the UIMSA constitution, chapter 6, article 21 under the procedures for elections states that, “The withdrawal of a candidate from the elections shall not be valid after the close of nominations”. Therefore, we cannot help but wonder whether this decision by Miss. Fola- Oyetayo is going to be allowed by the electoral committee. We await this decision and how this event is going to turn out.

The electoral process continues this afternoon. We look forward to seeing the candidates as we wish them all goodluck.

Written by: Jummai Sadiku