Court Orders UNICAL To Restore Unrestricted Access To 214 Law Students Removed From Law Faculty
Court Orders UNICAL To Restore Unrestricted Access To 214 Law Students Removed From Law Faculty
The order directs the university authorities to maintain the status quo and immediately restore full academic access to the affected students pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to grant 214 law students unrestricted access to lectures, the students’ portal and other academic facilities pending the determination of a substantive suit filed by the students.
Justice J. O. Abdulmalik issued the interlocutory injunction in a suit filed by Chidi Glad and 213 others against the University of Calabar and three others.
The order directs the university authorities to maintain the status quo and immediately restore full academic access to the affected students pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The case followed a dispute over the admission status of 214 students of the university’s Faculty of Law.
The 214 students were represented in court by Bernard Okpi, alongside Confidence Mbang, Bennedict Otu, Udoh Ekananem and Kenneth Ibobo.
The first, second and third defendants were represented by Jonas Abuo and Akiba-Eyo Veronica.
During proceedings, counsel to the defendants, Abuo, informed the court that although the defendants had been served with the originating processes, they were unable to file their response because the Vice Chancellor and Registrar had travelled out of the country.
He told the court that he had only filed a conditional memorandum of appearance and requested an adjournment to enable the defendants to respond to the students’ suit.
The application for adjournment was opposed by the students’ counsel, Okpi, who argued that the defendants had been served on August 24, 2026, and had already exhausted the statutory 30-day period for filing their response.
Okpi urged the court to proceed with the hearing of the matter.
Alternatively, he asked the court to grant the defendants an adjournment on the condition that they pay N2 million in costs and allow the claimants to move their motion for an interlocutory injunction.
After considering the arguments and perusing the motion papers, Justice Abdulmalik delivered a bench ruling granting the interlocutory orders sought by the students.
The court consequently directed the university authorities to maintain the status quo and restore the affected students’ access to lectures, the students’ portal and other academic amenities pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Background
The suit arose after UNICAL announced in August that 214 of its 435 second-year LL.B students would be removed from the Faculty of Law and returned to the departments to which they were originally admitted.
The university had said that only 221 of the 435 second-year students were officially admitted into its Law programme, while the remaining 214 entered the Faculty of Law from other departments.
According to the university, the affected students would not be eligible for admission to the Nigerian Law School if they continued studying Law under their existing admission status.
The students, however, disputed the university’s position, arguing that the institution had admitted them into the Law programme, accepted their fees, registered them for Law courses and allowed them to sit examinations and progress through the programme.
They also claimed that the university subsequently directed them to undergo Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) regularisation, which they said they completed after paying the required fees.
Following the dispute, the students instituted the suit against UNICAL, its Vice Chancellor, Offiong Offiong, the Registrar and President Bola Tinubu.
Among other reliefs, they are seeking N5 billion in damages and asking the court to protect their continued studies in the Law programme.
The interlocutory order means that the affected students are to retain access to the university’s academic facilities pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case.
