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.”

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.

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