VP Finance candidate Sammy Onikoyi disqualified for “egregious violations”

Late Thursday night, VP Finance candidate and incumbent VP Equity Sammy Onikoyi was disqualified from the UTSU election for egregious violations of fair play and the spirit of elections.

The VP Finance race has prematurely narrowed down between Aliyah Kashkari, the incumbent VP Student Life; and Tony Guo, a UTSU newcomer. Only Guo attended The Varsity’s candidates’ debate earlier that day.  

Although there is no confirmed reason as to why Onikoyi was disqualified, four students have alleged they were forced to vote for Onikoyi by a man seemingly involved in her campaign.

When asked about the allegations, Onikoyi wrote to The Varsity on March 1, “we got a ‘Can I speak to your manager’ ass student body now. But good luck with a blonde sorority girl for VP finance with OSAP cuts coming lol.”

The “blonde sorority girl” is seemingly in reference to Kashkari, another VP Finance candidate. While the official results are not out yet, sources close to the UTSU have confirmed that candidates have been informed of the results.

Kashkari and Onikoyi still both currently serve on the same UTSU executive team until the 2026–2027 council is ratified. On Wednesday, a second-year student in criminology and sociolegal studies was waiting for their lecture at Sidney Smith Hall when a man walked up and asked the student to vote for his friend. 

“I was fine on voting for his friend because typically I don’t vote during the student union elections,” the student wrote to The Varsity. 

When the student scanned the QR code on a poster and logged in to SimplyVoting, “He told me he’ll take it from here and then proceeds to vote for his friend in the VP of finance section, then proceeds to abstain everyone else.” After the man submitted the vote, he said the student could change it later. This is false, as a vote for the UTSU election on SimplyVoting cannot be changed after it has been submitted. 

“I heavily believe that no student should have a person come up to them, force them to vote for you,” the student added.  

Before Onikoyi’s disqualification, The Varsity asked Chief Returning Officer Kyle Ross about these allegations. Ross wrote that it was “currently under investigation by the Elections Office. Beyond that I cannot comment on the issue at this time.” 

When asked why Onikoyi was disqualified and if the events were connected, Ross wrote to The Varsity that they could not comment “beyond what has been publicly posted in accordance with the Elections & Referenda Code. Any information we are required to disclose has been made available on the UTSU website per our obligations under the Code.”

Any violation of fair play and the spirit of elections leads to an immediate disqualification, without taking demerit points into account. Otherwise, an executive candidate needs to rack up over 40 demerit points to be disqualified. 

The three current candidates with demerit points received them for physical materials restrictions, including presidential candidate Adrian J. Lam with eight demerits, VP Equity candidate Juan Diego Areiza with two demerits, and presidential candidate Marie Kinderman with two demerits. Physical materials restrictions include specific rules for the number, size, and location of posters and campaign materials, among other specifications.

Onikoyi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 1 to include comment from Onikoyi.