214 students sue UNICAL, Tinubu for N5bn over removal from Law faculty

Some University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River, students have dragged the institution’s management before the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, over their removal from the Faculty of Law..

The 214 students also prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the university from restricting portal access or taking any adverse action affecting their full status as Law students of UNICAL.

The claimants, in the suit filed by their lawyer, Bernard Okpi, prayed the court for N5 billion as general damages for mental distress and financial injury allegedly inflicted on them.

The claimants, in the originating summons marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1825/2026, named the UNICAL, its vice chancellor and registrar as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively.

The students also listed President Bola Tinubu as 4th defendant in the suit filed on August 12. The claimants posed five questions for determination and sought eight reliefs.

They urged the court to declare that the letters of admission issued to them by the Faculty of Law, the acceptance thereof, payment of university fees, registration of courses, sitting and passing of examinations, among others, constitute valid legal contracts of admission with the school.

They also prayed the court to declare that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Offiong Offiong, can not invalidate “the official acts, admissions, JAMB regularisation approvals, and institutional commitments made by his predecessor-in-office to the detriment of the claimants.”

In the affidavit deposed to by Ogana Lukpata, who is the 2nd claimant, he said he was “personally affected by the administrative actions.”

He stated that the university admitted him and 213 other students into its Faculty of Law between 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic sessions.

After their admission, he said, the students accepted the offers, “paid acceptance fees, completed the required screening and paid school fees for almost three academic years.”

They subsequently registered for Law courses, “attended lectures, submitted continuous assessment assignments and sat for examinations conducted under the supervision of the university.”

According to him, the students passed their examinations and progressed from 100 Level to 200 Level, “with some reaching 300 Level.”

Lukpata said the university later instructed the students to undergo Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s regularisation, which they did after paying the required processing fees.

He, however, added that controversy began on August 5 after UNICAL directed 214 second-year Law students to return to the departments where they were originally admitted into by the institution.

He alleged that the dispute started after Mr Offiong, a professor of Chemistry, became vice-chancellor and “refused to sign” or complete the initial regularisation documents processed under his predecessor, Florence Obi, a professor of special education.

Ms Obi served as vice-chancellor of the University of Calabar from December 2020 and handed over to Mr Offiong on December 1, 2025, after completing her five-year tenure.

Mr Lukpata said the decision followed the August 5 meeting between the university management, the Faculty of Law, the affected students and the Law Students’ Association of Nigeria, UNICAL chapter.

Mr Lukpata alleged that during the meeting, Mr Offiong said only 221 of the 435 students in the second year of the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) programmes were officially admitted into Law.

He said the 214 students (comprising all the claimants in this suit) were being summarily removed from the Faculty of Law and directed to return immediately to their former/initial departments.

He said that in order to enforce the “punitive decree, the 1st and 2nd defendants immediately ordered the total deactivation and locking of our student result portals, effectively blocking our access to learning portals, academic transcripts, and ongoing university activities.”

He said the university further explained that the affected students would not be eligible for the Nigerian Law School if they remained in Law under their current admission status.

He said the university, however, offered to refund their 2025/2026 school fees or provide free tuition for the 2026/2027 session in their original departments.

Mr Lukpata alleged that Mr Offiong claimed the forms did not bear his name and they consequently had to repeat the JAMB regularisation process and pay the required fees again.

He said the institution gave no prior query, notice of allegation, administrative panel hearing or opportunity for any of them to defend their status before taking this extreme measure.

He also said none of the 214 students had been investigated, indicted or found guilty of examination malpractice, breach of university regulations or any act amounting to gross misconduct.

He said the students, therefore, questioned why university officials who handled the students’ admissions, fee payments and other administrative processes had not been investigated or sanctioned.

“Instead of holding its staff accountable for administrative lapses, the university management singled out innocent students who acted in good faith and spent years studying law courses,” Mr Lukpata said. The case was assigned to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik for adjudication, but no hearing date has been been fixed. NAN