University Student Drags School to Court After They Expelled Him, Court Sides Him

Cursory: The Federal High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, has invalidated the rustication of Ojo Aderemi, a former student activist and President of the Students Union Government (SUG) at the University of Ibadan (UI). Ojo had been accused by the Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC) of organizing an unauthorized congress, leading a protest, and breaking an office window. Ojo denied these allegations and filed a case claiming a violation of fair hearing.

The rustication of Ojo Aderemi, a student activist and former President of the Students Union Government (SUG) at the University of Ibadan (UI), has been overturned by the Federal High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The court ruling declared the decision by the university management to rusticate Aderemi for four semesters as null and void. Aderemi had held the position of SUG President at UI before facing rustication from the institution.

On Friday morning, a lawyer representing Ojo Aderemi confirmed to SaharaReporters that the court ruling regarding his rustication had been issued. The judgment, which nullified the rustication, was delivered on Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

It was had previously reported in April 2019 that the decision to rusticate Aderemi was reached during a meeting of the Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC), during which he received official letters notifying him of the punishment.

According to SaharaReporters, Aderemi, a third-year student in the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, was accused of organizing an unauthorized congress of the union, leading a protest, and breaking the glass of an office while a lecturer was present. However, Aderemi denied these allegations.

When SaharaReporters sought Ojo’s comments, he had said:

“The allegations were that I conducted an illegal congress, that we protested and that I said the VC victimized some students who were suspended during my inauguration speech.

“Those were the allegations. And also they said during the protest that a glass got broken and a lecturer was inside the office when the glass was broken and he was traumatised; well, that’s unconnected with the protest.

“I’ve said that before and there was really no objection that was raised that the congress was not illegal. We wrote the Students Representative Council (SRC), it went through the process. So I really don’t know…”

Expressing his dissatisfaction with the rustication, Ojo took the matter to the Federal High Court in Ibadan in an attempt to invalidate the school’s decision, claiming a violation of the fundamental principle of fair hearing within the rule of law.

In response to the court’s decision, which nullified his rustication and ordered his reinstatement, Ojo, through his legal representative, commended the trial court for ensuring that justice was ultimately served in the case.

He said, “It is a justice for rule of law and we are glad that the court nullified the rustication. This is because it was only the Vice-Chancellor that testified against him and he was not allowed by the school to prove his innocence before rusticating him.

“Of course he agreed he protested which is within his constitutional right, but the allegation of vandalism was decided by the school without fair hearing.”

Source: Sahara Reporters

Read Also: BUK expels 27 Students, Rusticates 8 Others for exam Misconduct

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