The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the University of Calabar to immediately restore full academic access to 214 law students removed from its Faculty of Law, pending the determination of a suit challenging their exclusion.
Justice J. O. Abdulmalik granted the interlocutory injunction in a suit filed by Chidi Glad and 213 other students against the university, its Vice Chancellor Offiong Offiong, the Registrar, and President Bola Tinubu. The order requires university authorities to maintain the status quo and grant the students unrestricted access to lectures, the students’ portal and other academic facilities until the substantive case is heard and decided.
The dispute centres on the admission status of 214 of the 435 second-year LL.B students. In August, the university announced that only 221 of them were officially admitted into the Law programme. It said the remaining 214 had entered the faculty from other departments and would be returned to those original departments. According to the university, the affected students would not be eligible for admission to the Nigerian Law School if they continued under their current status.
The students rejected that position. They argued that the university had admitted them into the Law programme, collected their fees, registered them for Law courses, allowed them to sit examinations and permitted them to progress. They also stated that the institution later directed them to complete Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board regularisation, which they said they did after paying the required fees.
During proceedings, counsel for the defendants, Jonas Abuo, told the court that although the originating processes had been served, the university could not file a response because the Vice Chancellor and Registrar were outside the country. He said only a conditional memorandum of appearance had been filed and sought an adjournment. Students’ counsel Bernard Okpi opposed the request. He noted that the defendants were served on 24 August 2026 and had already exhausted the statutory 30-day period for filing a response. Okpi urged the court to proceed or, alternatively, to grant an adjournment only on the condition that the defendants pay N2 million in costs and allow the students to move their motion for the interlocutory injunction.
After hearing both sides and reviewing the motion papers, Justice Abdulmalik delivered a bench ruling granting the orders sought by the students.
In the substantive suit, the students are seeking N5 billion in damages and orders protecting their continued studies in the Law programme. The interlocutory decision means the 214 students retain access to university academic facilities while the case proceeds.
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