214 UNICAL Students Sue University, Tinubu Over Removal From Faculty Of Law, Seek N5Billion In Damages
214 UNICAL Students Sue University, Tinubu Over Removal From Faculty Of Law, Seek N5Billion In Damages
The students are demanding N5 billion in damages over the university’s decision to transfer them from the Law faculty back to the departments where they were originally admitted.
More than 200 University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State, students have sued the institution, its Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, and President Bola Tinubu at the Federal High Court, 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 Law faculty back to the departments where they were originally admitted.
The suit, filed on August 12, 2026, followed a directive by the university management ordering the affected students, who are mostly in their second year, to return to their former faculties and departments.
Students Challenge UNICAL’s Decision
The students argued that their admission letters, payment of prescribed fees, registration for courses, participation in examinations and subsequent JAMB regularisation amounted to “valid, binding, and subsisting legal contracts” between them and the university.
They also contended that the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Offiong Offiong, could not invalidate “the official acts, admissions, JAMB regularisation approvals, and institutional commitments made by his predecessor-in-office to the detriment of the Claimants.”
The controversy reportedly escalated earlier this month after the university directed 214 second-year Law students to leave the faculty and return to the programmes into which they were initially admitted.
The decision followed a meeting involving the university management, the Faculty of Law, the affected students and the Law Students’ Association of Nigeria, UNICAL chapter.
A copy of the court documents seen by SaharaReporters showed that the suit was filed by 214 students, with 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 listed among the claimants.
The defendants are the University of Calabar, the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar and the President of Nigeria.
UNICAL Defends Transfer Of Students
The university has defended its decision, saying only 221 of the 435 students in the second year of its Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) programme were formally admitted into the Faculty of Law.
According to Vice-Chancellor Offiong, the remaining 214 students were originally admitted into other departments before gaining admission into Law.
The university said the affected students would not be qualified to proceed to the Nigerian Law School if they remained in the Law faculty under their current admission status.
It subsequently locked their academic portals to facilitate their transfer to their original departments.
The university, however, offered to refund their 2025/2026 academic session fees or allow them to study tuition-free in their original departments during the 2026/2027 session.
Students Say They Were Properly Admitted
In an affidavit filed in support of the case, Ogana Lawrence Lukpata, the second claimant, said he was “personally affected by the administrative actions” of the university.
He said UNICAL admitted him and the other 213 affected students into its Faculty of Law between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic sessions.
Following 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 the affidavit, the students successfully completed their examinations and progressed from 100 Level to 200 Level, “with some reaching 300 Level.”
Lukpata said the university later directed the students to regularise their admissions with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), a process which they completed after paying the prescribed fees.
However, he alleged that difficulties emerged after Offiong assumed office as vice-chancellor.
According to him, Offiong, a professor of Chemistry, “refused to sign” or complete the initial JAMB regularisation documents that had been processed under his predecessor, Prof. Florence Obi.
Obi served as UNICAL vice-chancellor from December 2020 before handing over to Offiong on December 1, 2025, following the completion of her five-year tenure.
The students alleged that Offiong told them the regularisation forms did not bear his name, forcing them to repeat the process and pay the required fees again.
However, at a meeting held on August 5 at the Senate Chamber, Lukpata said the vice-chancellor announced that “214 of the 435 students in the LL. B II class would be removed from the Faculty of Law” and instructed them to return to their former departments.
The students further alleged that the university subsequently blocked their academic result portals, thereby denying them access to learning platforms, transcripts and other university activities.
“The Respondents gave no prior query, notice of allegation, administrative panel hearing, or opportunity for any of the Claimants to defend their status before taking this extreme measure,” the affidavit read.
The students also maintained that none of the 214 students had been investigated, indicted or found guilty of examination malpractice, violation of university regulations or any conduct amounting to gross misconduct.
They therefore questioned why students were being punished for what they described as administrative failures by university officials who had processed their admissions, fees and other academic documentation.
“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,” they said in the affidavit.
Through their lawyers led by Okpi Bernard, the students are asking the Federal High Court to determine whether the vice-chancellor has the power to “arbitrarily and unilaterally” invalidate official acts, admissions and JAMB regularisation approvals undertaken under his predecessor.
They also want the court to determine whether the university can, pursuant to Section 18 of the University of Calabar Act, demote, eject or transfer students or block their academic portals without first investigating them and establishing that they committed gross misconduct or academic dishonesty.
Students Challenge Tinubu’s Role
The students further asked the court to determine whether President Tinubu, as the appointing authority for the vice-chancellor, has a statutory responsibility to intervene and prevent what they described as unlawful and oppressive actions against their academic status and fundamental rights.
The students are asking the court to declare that their admission letters, acceptance of admission offers, payment of fees, course registrations, examinations and compliance with JAMB regularisation requirements established valid contractual relationships between them and UNICAL.
They also want the court to hold that Offiong is bound by “the doctrine of executive continuity and administrative estoppel” and cannot invalidate official acts, admission approvals and academic status granted under his predecessor.
The claimants further want the court to declare their removal from the Faculty of Law and the locking of their academic portals a violation of Section 18 of the University of Calabar Act and their constitutional right to fair hearing.
They are seeking a permanent injunction restraining the university, its vice-chancellor and registrar from “demoting, transferring, ejecting, restricting portal access, denying learning opportunities” or taking any other adverse action against them as Law students.
They also asked the court to direct President Tinubu to exercise his supervisory powers over the university’s management.
In addition to the substantive suit, the students filed a motion on notice seeking interim protection pending the determination of the case.
They asked the court to restrain the university, the vice-chancellor and registrar from “enforcing, implementing, or continuing to give effect” to the August 5 directive removing them from the Faculty of Law.
The students also want an order directing the university to “forthwith restore, unblock, and maintain full, uninterrupted access” to their academic result portals, course registration portals and learning platforms.
They further asked the court for an interlocutory injunction “restraining the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Respondents/Defendants from taking any adverse academic or administrative action that will affect their academics.”
The case is now before the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the students are seeking judicial intervention to reverse their removal from the Law faculty and prevent what they described as further disruption to their academic careers.
