Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Federal High Court in Abuja is set to hear a landmark suit filed by 214 students of the University of Calabar who were abruptly removed from the Faculty of Law after spending up to three years studying law, only to be told that their admissions were invalid. The students are seeking N5 billion in damages, arguing that their admission letters, fee payments, course registrations, and JAMB regularisation constituted valid contracts with the university.
The controversy began on August 5, 2026, when Vice-Chancellor Professor Offiong Offiong summoned a meeting with the Faculty of Law and the affected students. At that meeting, he announced that only 221 of the 435 students in the LL.B II class had been properly admitted into Law. The remaining 214 students, he said, had entered the faculty through other departments and would not be eligible for the Nigerian Law School if they remained under their current admission status.
The university subsequently locked the students' portals to facilitate their transfer back to their original departments. However, the students were given no prior query, notice of allegation, or opportunity to defend themselves before the decision was taken. They have since filed suit against the university, its Vice-Chancellor, its Registrar, and President Bola Tinubu, who is included as a defendant because his office oversees federal universities.
In an affidavit, one of the claimants stated that they accepted their admission offers, paid acceptance fees, completed screening, and paid school fees for almost three academic years. They registered for Law courses, attended lectures, submitted assignments, and sat for examinations, progressing from 100 Level to 200 Level, with some reaching 300 Level. They also alleged that after the university instructed them to undergo JAMB regularisation—a process they completed and paid for—the new Vice-Chancellor refused to sign the documents processed under his predecessor, forcing them to repeat the process and pay again.
The university has offered to refund the students' 2025/2026 school fees or provide free tuition for the 2026/2027 session in their original departments. But the students argue that the university's decision has wasted years of their lives and jeopardised their legal careers. As the suit moves forward, the case raises critical questions about institutional accountability and the extent to which a university can reverse admissions after students have committed years of study.
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