CAPPA Call For Reinstatement of Wrongly Expelled Nasarawa University Student
Tracy Ohovwore, Benin Cirty
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) vigorously opposed the violent intimidation and rustication of more than 25 students by the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), over a planned peaceful demonstration against the university’s arbitrary introduction of a third semester and imposition of an additional fee of ₦20,000 per course for registering and resitting carry-over exams.
The students of the university mentioned above were suspended for one academic session suspended these students for one academic session on bogus charges of “criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, and cyber bullying.”
It was further discovered that a WhatsApp group was created last year to discuss and mobilise for a peaceful protest against the university’s arbitrary introduction of a third semester and impose an additional fee of ₦20,000 per course for registering and resitting carry-over exams.
CAPPA condemns the illegitimate outcome by the university management under the leadership of Prof. Sa’adatu Liman, who deployed security forces to infiltrate the groups and arrest the students who were detained; phones were seized until they secured bail.
Despite the unfair circumstances, the university issued the students rustication letters in December 2024. The association demands an immediate reinstatement and an abrupt end to the unjustly tightened crackdown on student activism in Nigeria. Nasarawa State University’s nullification of its last student union election further exposes its growing authoritarian culture.
According to the statement signed by the Media & Communications Officer, CAPPA, Robert Egbe, CAPPA regards the university’s actions as a blatant violation of students’ fundamental rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, as enshrined in Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended.
“Higher learning institutions should uphold democracy, critical thinking, and intellectual freedom, providing spaces where students can engage in discourse without fear of retaliation. Instead, we are witnessing an alarming trend where these institutions across the country are rapidly transforming into despotic environments, working overtime to erode student resistance and enforce a culture of silence.
“We are not unaware that the endgame of this deliberate crackdown is to strip undergraduates of critical consciousness, eliminate opposition to the rising cost of education and crumbling learning conditions, and ultimately produce graduates who are nothing more than zombies for the broader society—incapable of questioning or challenging systemic injustices. But what is a society without critical thinkers? A nation that suppresses independent thought and inquiry only breeds conformity, docility, and decay.
“CAPPA stands in full solidarity with all victimised students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi and commends them for taking the initiative to organise against exploitative policies. We call on all stakeholders and unions in the education sector, along with civil society organisations, to speak out against this injustice.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of all suspended students. Furthermore, we urge collective action to halt the growing commercialisation of public education and criminalisation of student organising. This creeping dictatorship in Nigerian universities must be stopped.”
