These LASUSU Candidates; Is That All We Have? -By Kareem Itunu Azeez

The euphoria is on, so is the fear, among various students of the Lagos State University, and especially the aspirants, vying for various political positions within the Students Union, something they referred to as (LASUSU).

However, when we consider the society we grow, and how the political behavior of many has been restricted to the “Dirty game” agenda, or the, “School candidate” rumors, or even the electorates idea of, “Give me money make I vote for you” how unfortunate yet again our generation seems to be, comparing with other world class institutions around, you realise very well, LASUSU still has some long way to trudge, and if this is something we need to change, then all hand must be on deck. Importantly a chance to write your name in the folklore of the university.

A week ago the ban was uplifted, followed by sales of form, and then the guild lines for the upcoming elections, it is an opportunity to hear the public commandments of the prospective candidates, to see the level through which school has passed through them, and not just them passing through school. The past in reference to Union leaders has no traces, either federally or even internationally, except perhaps, through the strong hands of today’s connections. What are then the expectations of the populace who would be hoping to at least for one session be guided by their mandate. And even someone who could be recognised by not just the school but a larger community waving the University flag higher.

The first is, how oratory gifted are this candidates? Generally, today’s generation of student are gadget oriented, based on observation so far, it is catastrophic that none of the so call prospective Candidate can even face the public and give a commanding speech well written by them, or understand the rules of grammar usages. With different interactions with this so call candidates, one may be forced to have a rethink of who to cast your votes for, if at all our votes counts. It is good that some have employed the gifted hands of speech writers, or even short messages creators, but it is even more important that, they the aspirants have this skills instill within them. The world won’t forget the likes of Cicero, the likes of John F Kennedy, and even the legendary Martin Luther king Junior, not only because of their leadership skills, but because of their powerful oratory knowledge. There is no better place to exercise your oratory power as someone picking a career politically or leadership wise if not while in school, but so far so good, on a scale of 1-10, base on those we have interviewed and even come across, the ratings is arguably just at a maximum of 3.5%, what a failure.

Secondly Those of us who have read larger biography of leaders, who begin from tender years, the successes of Vladimir Putin, the successes of the Incumbent president of the country Buhari, the successes of Obasanjo, we often realise their doggedness at a tender age, their urge never to be controlled or manipulated, and critically speaking, the current LASUSU prospective leaders or aspirants, don’t even have the zeal, the burning flames of agility is far from them. Professor Wole Soyinka went on exile, the likes of even our own Professor Odion Akahaine, the likes of lecturers like Dr Mudashiru, who’s vast experience and knowledge we tap into when it comes to Unionisms, all this are not even viable in today’s aspirant, all we see so far are just bunch of individuals who have less or no tactics of politics but rather just wish to get there for two basic reasons, To be known, and to be rich.

When you listen to Professor Odion speaks about how effective his era of students Union was, far back as early 1970s, how they even led a protest against the then military regime, you wonder where they gain their own prowess, but because today’s youths have lost the leadership credibility and have no time to seek knowledge, they continuously walk in shades where nothing is found and nothing is won.

Well, the truth is, the fear of be expelled, the fear of been suspended, the general fear of losing their studentship, which us the reason many student don’t even maximise their leadership potential, and their names are tarnish in the long run. Then in some years all they could boast of is that, ” I was a Union President ” back then in school, but nothing to show for it, but I guarantee you, if you do well in the face of trouble, if you do well in times of fear, the school may be 50% of your career but its 0% of your destiny.

Another point, of what we need and expect is, individuals who can gallantly walk in defense of their electorate. In recent times, there is no record about heroism from any Union executives starting even from the so-called president, NOTHING. elections come and go, it’s a game of winner takes all, but their legacy lives on, as much as I will write this piece without inclusion of any names the public will decide themselves which name fits where and why. We have seen Public Relation Officers and how professional they are, we have witness their public speeches and how constructive they are in wowing their audiences, we know the Lagos State Students Union for now can’t boast of such, at this period, and that’s tragic, we have also witness Presidents, Vice President, who when they speak the people understand only one thing, which is,”Surely this is a merit candidate ” but can such be described as what we have today? I leave us to judge. But if credibility is the food we serve, am sure many will go hungry till their years in the university is over.

Academically sound and socially captivating; while CGPA, are no longer criteria for judging intelligence, and in fact the least looked upon by creative firms in the global market today, the selection of leaders should at least not deviate too much from the importance of what result means in the school settings, there should be certain parameters that is expected, a standard level if I am to exaggerate my point. Not some easily achievable mantras. When we say socially captivating, let me give an example, it is difficult to chose any of this prospective candidates to be the LASU face in any national events or conference how much more outside, because we have seen majority of them speak, and majority of them control a group of people. The minority not mentioned may actually be the difference, which is why I say Majority, but this minority are the ones you see, aspiring for positions that eschew them from the public eye, because they lack the courage to stand adversity, so where do we go from here?

It is very interesting that as we continuously lose intelligent folks at the elm of affairs, the Independent Electoral Commission of the school seems to be upping their game, they seem to be trying every possible ways to make it a freer and a fairer election, and by some standard they team up with some major media groups of the institution, and although there are different perspective to look at it from, the reality is that, each media, that has been selected and partnered with have their names to protect, what this thus means therefore is if there’s some act of negativity, the fourth estate of the people should not disappoint the people.

The election is drawing closer, but of all the presented candidates, for the top positions, I am beginning to wonder what difference does it make, the Aluta spirit, many include in their declaration statement, I am sure they don’t even know. The Victoria Ascerta they add at the end of their long doctored write ups, they have no idea, we are just a bunch of blind people where only the one eye is without choice the leader.

What decision we make here in the only school that guarantee us admission in the struggle within, is also a reflection of the larger society, but if we at the grassroots are making this mistakes, then tomorrow should start preparing fro next tomorrow with fresher minds, because this minds can determine right from wrong, or yes they know right from wrong but can’t stand their ground on the days when justice for all is necessary.

So I ask once more, this prospective Candidates, is that all LASU can offer or are their still names to expect? We are waiting.