Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Lagos State University has formally denied allegations that some of its law graduates were left out of the mobilisation process for the Nigerian Law School, dismissing claims that members of the Class of 2025 were sidelined to accommodate students from the August 2026 graduating set. The denial, contained in a statement released on Monday, September 28, 2026, and posted on the university's official X handle, came in response to a SaharaReporters investigation in which aggrieved 2025 graduates accused the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor K.A. Olatoye, of manipulating the mobilisation list.
The university said records at both the Faculty of Law and the University Registry confirmed that all students who had graduated and were eligible for mobilisation had been duly processed. "The attention of the University Management has been drawn to an allegation concerning the non-mobilisation of some Law graduates to the Nigerian Law School," the statement read. "The University wishes to clarify that records available at the Faculty of Law show that all students who have graduated and are eligible for mobilisation have been duly mobilised." The university added that the Registrar had forwarded the list of mobilised graduates to the Nigerian Law School, and urged any graduate uncertain about their status to approach the Office of the Registrar for verification. "LASU also reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that qualified graduates were not unnecessarily delayed in advancing to the next stage of their professional training," the statement said.
The allegations that prompted the university's denial were detailed and specific. Affected graduates told SaharaReporters that at least 16 members of the August 2026 graduating set were mobilised while at least 20 eligible members of the Class of 2025 were not. They alleged that the Dean removed their names from the mobilisation list to accommodate the junior graduates. The graduates said LASU traditionally mobilises older graduating sets first because of the university's academic calendar and the backlog of graduates awaiting admission into the Nigerian Law School. They explained that a student must hold either an LL.B. certificate or a notification of result before submitting a letter of interest for mobilisation, a requirement that members of the 2026 graduating set could not have met at the time the process began in July 2026.
One affected graduate said the mobilisation process began on July 5, 2026, when a message was sent to their class platform directing students to submit letters of interest at the Dean's office. "People started submitting on the 7th. On this day, I couldn't submit because my notification of result had not been sent, so I had to wait till 10th of July to submit mine," the graduate said. By the time the graduate submitted, they were allegedly told that the 180 slots on the main list were already complete. The graduates alleged that despite the 2026 set lacking the required certificates or notifications of result, some of them were subsequently instructed to submit letters of interest using their school portal results. "The Dean then instructed some juniors to submit letters of interest adding just their school portal result, which was expressly against the requirement: LL.B. certificate or Notification of Result," the source alleged.
The controversy escalated after the Nigerian Law School released a passcode for registration, enabling candidates to determine whether they had been mobilised. "If one uses the code and it doesn't log in, it means he/she was not mobilised," another affected graduate said. The graduates claimed that when they checked, they found that at least 16 students from the 2026 graduating set had been mobilised, while their own names had been removed. They further alleged that the Dean refused to release the full list of mobilised students when requested by the Head of Class, a lack of transparency they said suggested "something fishy" had occurred. The graduates have petitioned the Council of Legal Education, demanding a review of the mobilisation process and greater transparency in the selection of candidates.
When contacted for comment, Professor Olatoye denied the allegations. "All I can say for now is that all of our students who graduated so far and applied for mobilisation have been mobilised, including the complainants," he told SaharaReporters. "They only need to exercise some patience to hear from the law school." He said he was unable to access official records immediately because it was the weekend and there was an ongoing strike, but promised to provide relevant information during the week.
However, the aggrieved graduates insisted that the Dean's account was not accurate. "The Dean is lying everywhere," one of them said. "A lot of our classmates are unable to log in to the registration portal, which means they aren't mobilized. Most of them were added to the supplementary list, which is not sure at all. The chances are like 10%. But new graduate students were added to our own list." The graduates said that anyone who cannot log into the Nigerian Law School portal has not been officially mobilised, and that the 25 students in the Class of 2025 have not been able to access the portal. The university's statement did not directly address the specific allegation that 16 members of the 2026 set were mobilised, nor did it explain the criteria used to allocate the 180 slots on the main list. It also did not provide details on how many graduates from the 2025 set were mobilised or how many were placed on the supplementary list.
The dispute has raised concerns about the integrity of the mobilisation process for the Nigerian Law School, a critical gateway for Nigerian law graduates seeking to qualify as legal practitioners. The Council of Legal Education has not yet responded to the graduates' petition. The Dean has promised to provide relevant information during the week when he has access to official records. For the Class of 2025 graduates, the wait continues, and the uncertainty over their mobilisation status remains unresolved. As the university insists that all eligible graduates were mobilised and the graduates insist that they were not, the question of who was actually mobilised, and on what basis, remains contested. The Council of Legal Education's response to the petition will be the next test of whether the allegations are substantiated or whether the university's records will vindicate its position.
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