Candidates whose names appeared in a lawsuit filed against the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State and the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, said they were shocked to find their names as plaintiffs in the ongoing court case.
Three of the five candidates named in the suit told PREMIUM TIMES that they were not informed before the lawsuit was filed, and that they only found out about it when the court documents were posted online.
Some said they asked for their names to be removed, but have yet to receive a response, even as it stalls their admission chances.
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The lawsuit
PREMIUM TIMES had reported how a law firm, F.K. Nnadi and Co., sued UNILAG and OAU over alleged irregularities that shortchanged candidates in their 2025 Post-UTME.
The law firm said it was suing on behalf of Success Chibuzor, Zainab Oyeleye, Adedeji Samuel, Aliat Monsuru, Bassey Nsikak and “on behalf of all other affected candidates of the 2025 UNILAG and OAU Post-UTME.”
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Also added as a defendant in the case was the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), where the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) used for offering admissions is domiciled.
According to a pre-action notice issued by the law firm, the suit stemmed from alleged unjustifiable award of low scores to candidates and withholding of some results without explanation.
In an ex parte ruling delivered on 30 September, Justice Mabel Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court in Enugu asked all parties to maintain the status quo as regards the admissions processes pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
As a result, JAMB froze the CAPS profile of the five named applicants in the suit as well as the two institutions involved.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, on 19 October, JAMB said it will neither “alter nor allow any alteration to be carried out on the concerned profiles by any of the parties” in conformity with the court order.
However, the candidates said they never asked any law firm to either represent them or file a lawsuit against the institutions.
Ken Nnadi, the counsel to the named candidates, maintained that “no candidate was maliciously or arbitrarily included in the lawsuit.”
Favour Obinyeluba, who contacted the candidates for additional information, promised to revert with responses but had not done so as of the time of filing this report.
Ms Obinyeluba is an associate of Alex Onyia, the Chief Executive Officer of Educare, who posted about the alleged irregularities and put out a form asking candidates with concerns about the OAU and UNILAG’s Post-UTME to fill out the form.
Mr Onyia had, in a series of tweets, accused both institutions of using the same software for the Post-UTME and that it had a major bug that wrongly flagged candidates for malpractice and mismatched scores for others.
At one point, Mr Onyia said he had compiled a list of 752 candidates allegedly affected by the glitch.
‘We didn’t authorise lawsuit’ – Candidates
“I didn’t know they wanted to sue UNILAG…So when I saw it (the lawsuit), I was shocked,” an anonymous source told our reporter via telephone.
The anonymous source said she filled out a Google form shared on X by Mr Onyia, after a friend sent it to her.
“I thought it was just the way they helped people during JAMB,” she said.
“I even told the woman (Ms Obinyeluba) who reached out to me on 19 September, that I already did a change of institution.”
Another candidate, Success Chibuzor, said she first saw her name on the lawsuit online on 1 October, but thought it was another person with a similar name.
“It wasn’t until they suspended the account that I knew it was me,” she told our reporter.
When she tried to log on to her portal on 10 October, it failed. The portal asked her to “visit any JAMB centre.”
The candidate visited Bafuto Institute of Management and Information Technology in Ikotun, Lagos, and was then referred to the JAMB Office in Ikoyi. There, the JAMB officials generated a ‘support ticket’. But she is yet to receive feedback from JAMB.
“It has done me more harm than good,” said yet another candidate. At first, this candidate didn’t want to talk to our reporter. When he finally agreed to talk about it, he asked not to be named.
The university had disqualified him for alleged malpractice. “They used an AI monitor, and any slight movement was flagged… some people were later cleared, but I wasn’t,” he said.
So, he filled out Mr Onyia’s Google form. Afterwards, Mr Onyia’s associate, Ms Obinyeluba, reached out to him to request his passport photo.
“When the lawsuit came out, I saw that my name was highlighted there, …and I didn’t know of such (the lawsuit) beforehand,” he said.
Some weeks ago, the candidate reached out to Ms Obinyeluba, asking them to withdraw the lawsuit as it was affecting him.
“Since then, they have not replied to me again. I’ve been reaching out to them to say that they should maybe call this thing off because this thing is affecting me. And they did not reply again,” he said.
“I actually wanted to chase another institution, but I couldn’t because JAMB (froze the CAPS profile),” he added.
Meanwhile, the anonymous sourcesaid she told Ms Obinyeluba several times she wasn’t interested in the case and wanted her name removed but was only told that ‘they’re on it.’
With their portals now frozen by JAMB, the candidates said they have been unable to proceed with their search for admission.
The anonymous source, also disqualified by UNILAG for alleged malpractice, successfully changed her institution from UNILAG to the Osun State University, Osogbo. However, she has been unable to proceed as JAMB had frozen her CAPS profile.
PREMIUM TIMES contacted Ms Obinyeluba via the contact provided by one of the candidates. When our reporter spoke to her, she said she would have to call back. She is yet to as of the time of filing this report.
In a text reply to our reporter, Mr Nnadi the lawyer, said the suit intends to ensure fairness, transparency, and respect for due process in the admission exercise.
Mr Nnadi said he couldn’t speak further on the case to avoid sub judice as the case remains before the court but maintained that the candidates were not arbitrarily included in the list.
“I can clarify in good faith and for the sake of accurate reporting that the application before the court was filed on behalf of affected candidates of the 2025 UNILAG and OAU Post-UTME, many of whom reached out directly to us. This approach is a standard legal procedure in representative actions, particularly where a matter raises issues of broad public interest,” he said in a text reply to our reporter.
“If any individual believes they were inadvertently affected or wishes to clarify their position, the proper forum for that is the court, where such concerns can be formally addressed.”
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