No fewer than 214 students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State, have dragged the institution, its Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and President Bola Tinubu before the Federal High Court in Abuja over their removal from the Faculty of Law.
The students, who filed the suit on August 12, 2026, are demanding ₦5 billion in damages over their transfer back to the faculties and departments where they were originally admitted.
In their suit, the students argued that their admission letters, payment of prescribed fees, course registrations, examinations and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) regularisation created valid and subsisting legal contracts between them and the university.
They also challenged the authority of the current Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Offiong Offiong, to invalidate or disregard official admissions, JAMB regularisation approvals and other institutional commitments made under his predecessor, Prof. Florence Obi.
The dispute followed the university’s recent directive ordering 214 second-year Law students to return to the departments where they were originally admitted.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, the second claimant, Ogana Lawrence Lukpata, said the university admitted him and 213 other students into the Faculty of Law during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic sessions.
According to him, the students accepted their admission offers, paid acceptance and school fees, completed the required screening and proceeded with their academic programmes for almost three years.
Lukpata, however, said the situation changed after Prof. Offiong, a Professor of Chemistry, became Vice-Chancellor.
He alleged that the Vice-Chancellor refused to sign or complete regularisation documents that had initially been processed under the previous administration led by Prof. Florence Obi, a Professor of Special Education.
The students are asking the court to protect their admission status and award them damages over what they consider an unlawful disruption of their academic progression.
