Glass Houses: Are We Truly Better Than The Leaders We Criticize?

By Adenuga Emmanuel

It was supposed to be a seamless display of campus democracy as students of the University of Lagos on Wednesday July 22, 2026, exercised their franchise to elect leaders into various faculty and departmental executive positions. Instead of a smooth electoral process, voters were met with blank screens and error messages. The student portal had stalled.

What should have been a quick voting exercise turned into an agonizing wait as candidates and voters alike sweated over their phone screens. It wasn’t until around three to four hours later, that students could finally access the portal to cast their votes. However, the damage was already done.

Time is a luxury few can afford, expecting student voters to sit idle for hours waiting for the portal to be fixed is being unrealistic. As the delay dragged on, voter apathy set in as students who had expressed interest in voting grew frustrated after multiple failed attempts and moved on with their day.

As Nigerians, we are quick to criticise electoral bodies like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when technical glitches and server malfunction delay national elections, which is quite ironic because we demand efficiency from the highest levels of government yet at the grassroots level, well run elections aren’t the norm.

If student level elections can’t be done without the system collapsing under peak traffic, how then can we claim we are better prepared and suited to fix the larger Nigerian society. Playing the blame game is an exercise in folly, rather the glitches expose an urgent need for redress. UNILAG must carry out real time stress testing of the portal weeks before election day.

Since the institution has nineteen (19) faculties. Instead of opening the portal for multiple faculties at the same period, voting should be staggered into detailed time slots for each faculty throughout the day.

We cannot live in glass houses and throw stones. Campus elections are meant to be the breeding ground for the next generation of leaders. When technical glitches delay the voting process, it breeds voter apathy, reduces voters turn out and makes them less confident in the electoral process.

As the University of First Choice and Nation’s Pride, our electoral process must reflect the school’s virtues in order to ensure transparency and make UNILAG a hub for the next generation of Nigerian leaders.

_View expressed in this article is that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of UNILAG Sun_