TUDENT UNION ELECTION MALPRACTICES AND VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA AS PERCEIVED BY TERTIARY INSTITUTION STUDENTS IN OGUN STATE

Elections are supposed to be a mechanism to produce leaders democratically and peacefully. But student union elections in Nigeria are far from being peaceful and democratic. The study assessed electoral malpractices and violence during the students' union election as perceived by tertiary institutions in Ogun State. Four (4) research questions were raised and answered in the study. The study was carried out using a descriptive research design. The target population of the study consists of all seven thousand six hundred students of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Osiele, and Sikiru Adetona College of Education Science and Technology (SACOTEC), Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State. Three hundred and twenty (320) students were selected for the study using a convenience sampling procedure. A self-designed questionnaire tagged “Student Union Election Malpractices and Violence Questionnaire” (SBEMVQ) was used to obtain information from the respondents. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis of the mean and standard deviation. The finding showed that students’ attitudes towards participating in the student union election are low, and interference by the school management contributes to students’ low level of interest in the student union election. Based on the findings, the study recommended that universities set up an awareness process for educating students on the need to participate in student union elections, strict enforcement of rules, and the adoption of e-voting to reduce electoral malpractice and violence during student union elections.