A Federal High Court in Enugu has directed the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, and the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, to halt all admission processes arising from the recently concluded Post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME) conducted by both universities.
Justice Mabel Segun-Bello delivered the ruling on Tuesday, following a motion ‘ex parte’ filed by five candidates, suing for themselves and “on behalf of all other affected candidates of the 2025 UNILAG and OAU Post-UTME.”
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The candidates are Chibuzor Succes, Zainab Oyeleye, Adedeji Samuel, Monsura Aduragbemi and Bassey Nsikak. They are represented by F.K. Nnadi and Co., an Enugu-based law firm.
Also added as a defendant in the suit is the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), where the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS) used for offering admissions is domiciled.
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The spokesperson for OAU, Abiodun Olarewaju, said the university is aware of the ruling but has not studied it as a result of the public holiday.
Mr Olarewaju said the university will look into the ruling and make its position known.
“After the university deliberates on this issue, we will come out with our own position,” he told our reporter in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Efforts to reach UNILAG spokesperson, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem were unsuccessful, as her phone line was unreachable and a text message inquiry went unanswered.
Petitioners’ demands
According to a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the candidates prayed the court to issue an interim injunction to restrain the universities from releasing, approving, uploading, or finalising any admission list for the 2025/2026 academic session pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
The candidates also asked the court to direct JAMB not to process or validate any admission list submitted by the universities pending the determination of the case.
They asked the court to grant “an order of status quo directing the respondents to maintain the current state of affairs and suspend all admission processes relating to the 2025/2026 academic session pending the hearing of the Motion on Notice.”
Ruling
In her ruling, Justice Segun-Bello asked the petitioners to notify the respondents –OAU, UNILAG and JAMB.
She also asked all parties to maintain the status quo as regards the admissions processes, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“Having considered extensively the four prayers of the Applicant, it is important to note that a veritable and triable issue does exist here necessary for both parties to be heard, hence the Applicants are hereby directed to place the Respondents on notice,” the ruling reads.
“This court also further directs that parties should maintain status quo with the current state of affairs being preserved relating to the 2025/2026 academic session admission list and all these pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
Pre-Action notice
PREMIUM TIMES reported last month that a law firm, F.K. Nnadi and Co., issued pre-action notices to both universities, threatening to sue them over alleged irregularities that awarded low scores to candidates in their Post-UTME.
In the pre-action notice dated 11 September and sent separately to the universities, the law firm asked the universities to release the withheld Post-UTME results, grant access to Post-UTME scripts and answers to the students or an independent third party to verify the assessment.
It also requested that candidates flagged for malpractice be afforded a proper, fair hearing, with the opportunity to defend themselves before any punitive decision is taken against them.
UNILAG had said at the time that all cases flagged for malpractice followed ‘clear violations of established examination guidelines.’
“These detections followed the use of multiple monitoring mechanisms, including secure video surveillance, deployed to ensure the integrity of the screening process,” the university said in a statement by its spokesperson, Ms Alaga-Ibraheem.
The university also replied to the pre-action notice, stating it did not withhold any Post-UTME results.
A reply signed by the university Registrar, Abosede Wickliffe, said all results have been released to candidates, and those disqualified on grounds of examination malpractice have been notified.
The letter explained that the examination process revealed a few cases of examination malpractice.
“In line with its exclusive prerogative, the university activated its internal mechanisms to investigate and deliberate on these infractions. This led to the disqualification of certain candidates -potentially including one or more of your clients, as inferred from your letter,” the letter reads in part.
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“While the University respects the right of individuals to seek redress for perceived grievances, it is important to reiterate that admission into the university is strictly provisional and contingent upon the fulfilment of clearly defined conditions.”
Post-UTME concerns
The chief executive officer of Educare, Alex Onyia, had accused both institutions of wrongly flagging candidates for malpractice and mismatched scores due to a bug in their systems.
Mr Onyia said he had compiled 752 reports from candidates allegedly affected by the glitch.
“UNILAG, OAU and UI are toiling with the destinies of young Nigerians,” he wrote in one tweet. “If nothing is done quickly, we will take up legal action against them. There was a major bug and glitch with the Web Test software that affected the students.”
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