On Friday, the #EMBA28 chose its cohort leadership. For the 1.5 hours of the election day event, it was well coordinated leading to the emergence of the class Governor and the other members of the class leadership.
But for sure, it took a lot of back-end work to achieve the success of the day. #EMBA28 coordinator, Toyin Masah, shared the ground rules from which the Electoral Officer, James Nwachuya, was chosen to run the process. The electoral process was so well organised, that our dear Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the Current Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, would have done well for himself to have appointed James as his emergency special adviser for the upcoming Gubernatorial elections holding on 11th March 2023.
James shared the electoral ground rules and ensured the class fully understood the mandate. The leadership roles available were Governor, Deputy Governor, Social Secretary, Financial Secretary and Welfare Secretary. While some of the contestants took the bold step to nominate themselves for their preferred roles, some candidates were nominated anonymously. It was interesting to see the calibre of persons who put themselves forward for the respective positions. The height of the electoral campaign was for the post of Governor – Sinmi and Adeshina made very good efforts at canvassing for our votes, everything done in the spirit of camaraderie, with each candidate showing each and all members of the #EMBA28 what they had to offer.
Election Day @ 3pm, 3rd of March 2023 – we had just rounded off a hot class analysing The Alusaf Case with Prof. Segun Shogbanmu and Grant Otti dazzling the class with his “Profit or Loss Account & sensitivity analyses” of the case – story for another day!
The class agreed to start the election process immediately, instead of the 4pm originally scheduled for the elections. I particularly liked how Mathias Akinwande, very thoughtfully stepped down from pursuing his Social Secretary ambition and pledged his allegiance to support Taiwo Damilola. For the role of Governor, Adeshina Lawal gave a speech from his heart while Sinmi shared a presentation showcasing what he had to offer the cohort. Other nominees were allowed to give short speeches to introduce themselves to the class and what they would bring to the table.
The specialized “#EMBA28 BVAS” created by our able Electoral Officer worked perfectly. The ground rules had been set before voting began and we had the eagle eyes of “Madam Toyin” policing the gates of our online zoom meeting to avoid overvoting. She also acted as the LBS and international observer of the whole process. Sinmi won the only competitive post of Governor, but not without a good fielding from Adeshina Lawal and his supporters.
We all received excellent advice from Toyin on how to work with the ExCo team to deliver value to the class and for the ExCo to ensure that all class members were carried along on decisions that affect the class. The Governor pledged his commitment to ensuring that the new ExCo of #EMBA28 left no one behind. Barely a day later, both Sinmi and Adeshina were already calling class members to join them both to unwind at the RM spot at Magodo to watch the Liverpool and Man-United game together. Excellent sense of leadership, I must say!
The #EMBA28 elections process was flawless and went smoothly. It made me reflect on the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections and the upcoming Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections. While I know that Nigeria is a complex country, it should not be so difficult to conduct free and fair elections, devoid of ethnicity, religion, blatant waste of resources and unfair interests (similar to the mini-Nigeria we have in the #EMBA28 class). It should to a large extent be as simple as gathering people who just want to choose leaders for the value they bring to the table and for the persons who ‘lose’ the election to support the winners to build a better Nigeria for all. Is this too much to ask for, from our leaders and all Nigerians?
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