No fewer than 214 students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State, have dragged the institution, its Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and President Bola Tinubu before the Federal High Court in Abuja over their removal from the Faculty of Law.
The students are demanding N5 billion in damages over the university’s decision to transfer them from the Faculty of Law to the departments where they were initially admitted.
The suit, filed on August 12, 2026, followed a directive by the university management requiring the affected students, most of whom are in their second year, to leave the Law faculty and return to their original programmes.
The students, through their lawyers led by Okpi Bernard, argued that their admission letters, acceptance of admission offers, payment of prescribed fees, course registration, participation in examinations and subsequent regularisation by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) constituted valid and binding agreements between them and the university.
They also contended that the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Offiong Offiong, could not invalidate official decisions and admissions approved under his predecessor, Prof. Florence Obi.
The dispute reportedly intensified earlier this month after the university directed 214 of the 435 students in the second-year Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) class to return to their former departments.
The decision followed a meeting involving the university management, Faculty of Law officials, the affected students and the UNICAL chapter of the Law Students’ Association of Nigeria.
Court documents showed that 214 students are listed as claimants in the suit, including Chiede Glad Ugochinyere, Ogana Lawrence Lukpata, Mgbe Jesamibiang, Olawale Preckkis C, Abdulrahman V Eng, Peter Ekopido Michael, Attar Maky Overamienghi, Udo Wisdom, Okeke Precious Oluchukwu, Ogar Rajai Ndosma, Etim Precious Koponino and Omin Floujush Ikpenvong.
The defendants are UNICAL, its Vice-Chancellor, its Registrar and President Tinubu.
UNICAL explains decision
The university has defended the action, maintaining that only 221 of the 435 students currently in the second year of the LL.B programme were formally admitted into the Faculty of Law.
According to Vice-Chancellor Offiong, the other 214 students were initially admitted into different departments before subsequently gaining admission into Law.
The university said allowing the affected students to continue in the Law faculty under their existing admission status could prevent them from qualifying for admission to the Nigerian Law School.
As part of the process of transferring the students, the university reportedly blocked their academic portals.
UNICAL, however, offered to refund the students’ fees paid for the 2025/2026 academic session or allow them to study without tuition fees in their original departments during the 2026/2027 academic session.
Students reject university's position
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, Lukpata said he and the other affected students were admitted into the Faculty of Law between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic sessions.
He said the students accepted their admission offers, paid acceptance and school fees, completed the required screening and proceeded with their academic programmes.
According to him, they registered for Law courses, attended lectures, submitted assignments and sat for examinations organised by the university.
He added that the students completed their examinations and progressed from 100 Level to 200 Level, with some allegedly advancing to 300 Level.
Lukpata said the university subsequently directed the students to regularise their admissions with JAMB, which they did after paying the required fees.
He alleged that problems arose after Offiong assumed office as vice-chancellor in December 2025.
According to the claimant, the vice-chancellor, a professor of Chemistry, refused to sign or complete some of the JAMB regularisation documents initiated under the administration of his predecessor, Prof. Florence Obi.
Obi served as UNICAL vice-chancellor from December 2020 until she handed over to Offiong on December 1, 2025, after completing her five-year tenure.
Lukpata alleged that Offiong informed the students that the regularisation forms did not bear his name, forcing them to repeat the process and pay the prescribed fees again.
He said the matter took a new turn during a meeting at the university’s Senate Chamber on August 5, when the vice-chancellor allegedly announced that 214 students would be removed from the Faculty of Law and returned to their former departments.
The students also alleged that the university blocked their academic portals, restricting their access to results, learning platforms, transcripts and other academic services.
They argued that they were not issued queries or given an opportunity to defend their admission status before the decision was taken.
The students further maintained that none of them had been investigated or found guilty of examination malpractice, breach of university regulations or any other form of gross misconduct.
They therefore argued that they should not bear the consequences of what they described as administrative lapses by university officials who had handled their admissions and academic records.
Students seek court intervention
The claimants are asking the Federal High Court to determine whether the vice-chancellor has the authority to unilaterally invalidate admissions, official acts and JAMB regularisation approvals made under his predecessor.
They are also asking the court to determine whether UNICAL can rely on Section 18 of the University of Calabar Act to transfer or eject students and block their academic portals without first investigating them and establishing that they committed gross misconduct or academic dishonesty.
The students want the court to declare that their admission letters, acceptance of admission, payment of fees, course registrations, examinations and compliance with JAMB regularisation requirements created valid contractual relationships between them and the university.
They are further seeking a declaration that Offiong is bound by the principles of executive continuity and administrative estoppel and cannot retrospectively invalidate official decisions taken under the previous administration.
The claimants have also asked the court to determine whether President Tinubu, as the appointing authority for the vice-chancellor, has a statutory duty to intervene in what they described as unlawful and oppressive actions affecting their academic status and fundamental rights.
The case is expected to test the extent of a university vice-chancellor’s powers over admissions and academic status, particularly where students claim to have spent years studying under approvals granted by previous university authorities.
Leave a Reply