- Court ordered UI to reinstate three suspended protesting students immediately.
- Judge ruled university disciplinary process violated fair hearing rights.
- CAPPA praised judgment and demanded apology over alleged student treatment.
The Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, has ordered the management of the University of Ibadan (UI) to immediately reinstate three students suspended over a protest against tuition fee increases.
EDITOR’S PICKS
- JAMB Delists 23 CBT Centres, Warns 89 After Mock UTME Review
- NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After First Human Trip to the Moon in 50 Years
- INEC Shifts Nationwide Voter Revalidation Until After 2027 General Election
EKO HOT BLOG reports that delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Nkeonye Maha nullified the disciplinary action and faulted the university’s process.
“I hereby set aside the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and order the reinstatement of the suspended students,” the judge ruled.
The affected students are Aduwo Ayodele, Mide Gbadegesin, and Nice Linus. They were suspended on July 14, 2025, after joining a midnight protest against an approved tuition hike by the university’s governing council.
The protest followed a circular issued by the council’s secretary, G.O. Saliu, stating that the council had “considered the reviewed schedule of levies for newly admitted and returning undergraduate students in the 2023/2024 academic session and approved it as recommended by the university Senate.”
It further stated, “students who are yet to pay and complete their registration exercises are advised to do so on or before Wednesday, September 4, 2024, to enable departments to download lists of registered students in preparation for the first semester examination.”
In their suit, the students argued that the disciplinary process violated their rights, stating: “a declaration that the refusal during the sittings of the 1st Respondent’s Student Disciplinary Committee and the Central Student Disciplinary Committee to allow the Applicants call witnesses and present video footage of what transpired on 13th of May, 2024, constitutes egregious infringement of the Applicants’ right to fair hearing guaranteed under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”
They also sought “AN ORDER SETTING ASIDE in its entirety the 1st Respondent’s Central Student Disciplinary Committee’s decisions dated 14th of July, 2025 to wit; rusticating the 1st and 2nd Applicants for four semesters, mandating them to write an undertaking of good behaviour, not to meddle with Student Union matters and to undergo mandatory professional counselling… being decisions reached in proceedings bereft of fair hearing and natural justice.”
They further demanded “AN ORDER… forthwith reinstating the Applicants’ full studentship rights and privileges… to wit, attend lectures, write examinations and participate in student union activities…” and “AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Respondents… from further subjecting the Applicants to the disciplinary committees on account of the exercise of their rights to freedom of thought and expression…” as well as “The sum of ₦20m damages… for the infringement of the Applicants’ constitutionally guaranteed rights… and EXEMPLARY DAMAGES of ₦5m…”
Justice Maha held that the university failed to guarantee fair hearing, adding that denial of witnesses and evidence violated natural justice.
Reacting, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa said the ruling affirmed constitutional rights.
It stated, “The judgment strongly affirms students’ constitutional rights to freedom of thought and expression, as guaranteed under Sections 38 and 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” and also alleged that students “were dragged out of the hall by the university’s internal security and handed them over to a waiting mob who beat them to a stupor and insulted them.”
It further said, “the trio were then profiled on the spot as criminals and eventually handed over to soldiers of the Operation Bust unit as dangerous cultists.” It added, “the university authorities did not deny these damning allegations.”
