USA Africa Dialogue Series - My Days in Court: Travails and Hullabaloos in a Nigerian University

My Days in Court
Travails and Hullabaloos in a University
"In so far as the examinations are conducted according to the university rules and regulations and duly approved and ratified by the university senate, the court has no jurisdiction in the matter. A court of law which dabbles or flirts into the arena of university examinations, a most important and sensitive aspect of university function should remind itself that it has encroached into the bowels of university authority. Such a court should congratulate itself of being party to the destruction of the university and that will be bad not only for the university but also for the entire nation."

That's the Supreme Court of Nigeria saying its hands were tied even against the weight of the evidence, by declining jurisdiction in a matter bordering on the very process the court intended to preserve. Here the court is not saying that the student did not deserve his hard earned certificate, since the due process of postgraduate examination was satisfactorily followed, rather that the process followed at University of Agriculture Makurdi for student Magit, though manifestly flawed ipso facto, simply did not matter. This implies that the court was not favourably disposed to overrule the university on matters of postgraduate examination, even if it was clear that the student had been victimized on malicious grounds, as is obvious in the case of Magit. Therefore, the collateral damage is done forever, given the role of Supreme Court as the final arbiter humanly available – collateral because, in fairness to the trio of Umeh, Njike and Gyang, I as the student's supervisor was the primary target intended to be nailed down by them, not student Magit.

Nonetheless, the verdict of Supreme Court in this case is worrisome regarding the plight of the Magits of this world facing oppression in malicious circumstances and at the hand of university authorities. Here I rest my case, as the farthest limit of a supervisor's ability to defend his innocent student has now been reached. The journey was truly tortuous, and strenuous, from the High Court to the Appeal Court and finally to Supreme Court of the land. At this stage, I am but only spirit-bound, to turn over the rest of the matter to the Supreme Being, Almighty God for Him to judge between the righteous and the wicked in the matter of fundamental human right enforcement at the instance of the victim, student Magit and the villain, lecturer Umeh and his associates.

 http://www.bookayoolamydaysincourt.com

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