UNICAL students file N5bn lawsuit challenging removal from Law faculty

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On 12 August, 214 University of Calabar students filed a N5 billion lawsuit against the university, its vice-chancellor, the registrar, and President Bola Tinubu following their mandated removal from the Faculty of Law. The students, who had progressed to 200 or 300 level, argued that their initial admissions, fee payments, and JAMB regularizations established binding legal contracts that the university could not unilaterally invalidate. Vice-Chancellor Offiong Offiong stated that only 221 of the 435 second-year law students were officially admitted, claiming the affected students were ineligible for the Nigerian Law School. The conflict intensified after the university locked the students' academic portals and directed them to return to their original departments, citing a lack of proper administrative admission procedures.

Consequences

The ongoing litigation and the freezing of student academic portals remain immediate hurdles to the affected students' educational progress. As the case proceeds in the Federal High Court, the university faces potential financial liability and a prolonged legal challenge regarding the validity of administrative actions taken by previous and current leadership.

Sources

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