Seun Joseph

Lawyers have advised the over 200 students of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, who were recently suspended for missing an Easter ‘Youth Alive’ programme to sue the institution.

The management of the school had placed the students on compulsory suspension for not taking part in the said retreat.

Some of the affected students, including a finalist, had said that the rules of their admission did not state that it was compulsory for them to attend the programme organised by the faith-based institution.

Since their suspension, several reactions had trailed the school’s action, with many asking the institution to recall the affected students.

Meanwhile, lawyers have asked parents of the suspended students to sue the school, saying that the institution’s action was a breach of the fundamental rights of the students to freedom of expression and worship.

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, described the suspension of the students as illegal and unreasonable, saying it was an infringement on the rights of the students.

He said even though the owner of a university could set rules and regulations to guide the conduct of students in the school, the rules must be subject to the provisions of the constitution, relating to civil rights and liberty of the students.

He said, “My view is that this action of Covenant University is an infringement on the rights to freedom of religion and worship. Therefore, if tested against the provisions of the constitution, it would not stand, so for me, it is unconstitutional.

“But apart from the unconstitutionality of it, it is also not reasonable, because there is a part of administrative law that talks about unreasonableness of administrative action. If you look at it, it is so unreasonable.

“I’m not advising parents to sue them, I’m strongly encouraging them (parents) to sue the school, not only for themselves but for posterity. When somebody does something egregious and you allow it to pass, it becomes a monster. They can’t allow their rights to be so trampled with reckless abandon.”

Also, a legal practitioner, Liborous Oshoma, called on the parents of the affected students to immediately take the matter to court, saying they would need a restraining order from the court to stop the school management from enforcing the suspension.

He said any delay in taking that step or waiting to sue for damages would not be enough to compensate the students once they are deprived of writing the exam, noting that what happened was an infringement on their rights.

Oshoma explained that even though some persons would argue that once the students signed the dotted lines to obey the rules of the university, they had “signed away” their fundamental rights, he said, “The question is, can you indeed sign away your fundamental rights, because they are inalienable; like freedom of association, religion, worship, etc?

“You don’t just suspend a student writing a final year exam on the basis of flimsy excuse that he or she did not attend a religious programme. We should learn to know when to draw the line between religious gathering and academic activities, because the fundamentals and objectives of these universities are different from what the religious bodies stand for.

“I strongly advise the parents to sue the university authorities. In this case, damages would not be enough to compensate. That is why they should rush to court now to restrain the university from enforcing that suspension to allow the students participate in the exam.”

A lawyer and President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Malachy Ugwumadu, also advised the students to sue the school if they were sure there was no express provision in the school’s rulebook that they could be suspended for up to a year if they didn’t attend the institution’s religious activities.

He also cautioned private institutions, especially faith-based ones, against imposing stringent rules on the students as such rules would not enable the students to become “well-grounded” in the society.

He said, “If there is an express provision that the students can be suspended for a year because they fail to attend an activity, they might not be successful in the court of law.

“But, if there is no express provision in the contract, a course of action has arisen. They should go to the court to enforce their fundamental rights which have been breached. Personally, I’m seriously against the stringent rules in faith-based private universities, as they are making our youths not to be well-grounded. Pure academics makes just about 50 per cent of what the university is established for. It doesn’t make a complete person.”

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, appealed to the institution to temper justice with mercy and recall the suspended students, in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ, on whom the school was founded.

He said, “In Nigeria, there is freedom of religion, according to Section 38 of the Constitution. It provides that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the basis of their religion, sex and others. If, for instance, a Muslim was denied admission into Covenant University, they can sue the school.

“But once you become a student, you are bound by the contract you have entered into to obey the school’s rules and regulations. The law is called “voluntaire non fit injurie,” which means no person can complain of any harm caused by a contract to which they agreed to.

“Be that as it may, on compassionate grounds, the school can be lenient with the punishment. I appeal to the university to temper justice with mercy, especially as it is a Christian university which follows the doctrines of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of Christ is about mercy and forgiveness. The school should recall the suspended students, but warn them not to disobey its rules again.”

All efforts to reach the university’s Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Kalu Igban, to know whether the school would consider recalling the suspended students proved abortive as he did not pick calls or messages sent to his phone by Saturday PUNCH.

Meanwhile, the school said on its Students Affairs section on its website that the vision it had for students made it imperative for it to pursue discipline vigorously.

“The high demand placed on discipline as a fundamental requirement for making a total graduate as embedded in the core values of Covenant University makes it imperative to pursue it with the required doggedness,” it said

http://www.citypeopleonline.com/lawyers-advise-parents-to-sue-covenant-university-over-suspension-of-200-students/

Hmmm... Yes I concur

There's a point... It can only happen in an under-developed country ...

EKITI001:
Hmmm... Yes I concur

sadly, i agree with you. I've always and would forever disagree with forcing people to go to Church. Also, Easter is a public holiday(by declaration of the president) and no university should have a compulsory activity for staff, much less students.

Secondly, most CU students on enrollment to CU are well below 18. So we could also say the agreement was done without full understanding of its ramifications and btw no serious court of law would recognize a document signed by a 15 yr old.

The school deserves to be sued. They are lucky they did not suspend my sis. Sue their sorry ASS

Do they even need to be told?

Nawa owh...? D skul get shako to much.....

Private bulshit.....

United they stand... Divided they remain suspended

my only issue is this.. there should be less grievous punishment for minor offences.. everything in that school is either expulsion or suspension, even cultists in my school are given a chance to reform before expulsion and its a private school too.

That moment you are waiting for the first person to take action!!

lovelygurleo:

This your advert is disturbing. Go create your website and do your marketing.

I see how hard the church universities are trying to uphold the religion. But this becoming more like extremism, maybe not in a violent way like the Muslims, but it's obviously extremism. This is the same university where they cut students' hair for being too bushy/long. There are millions of Jesus' portraits in churches, yet black people don't question the long hair in the pictures. Why do they think it's ideal for a black man to keep his hair short? Why praise the long hair on a white folk but castigate a fellow black when he does the same?

Africans really have a long way to go and religion is the major burden holding us back.

junkiesneverdie:
That moment you are waiting for the first person to take action!!

Typical Nigerian technique.

Tending:


This your advert is disturbing. Go create your website and do your marketing.

Can you imagine. This is the time to make money out of the rubbish university

Tending:


This your advert is disturbing. Go create your website and do your marketing.

On almost every page, the same bullshiit is recycled and posted

Abeg waitin them the teach wey other federal and state universities no fit teach..... if them like make dem purse them all..... intimidation we condole not

dia biznes

End time school vs new generation lawyer

Church bawo

Its just confusing.... School; Retreat.. How? Why?

I can only conclude that the persons who attend that school are either clueless or docile individuals... oyedepo can continue with this bull crap because zombies still are ready to pay tuition fees to attend the glorified secondary school...what rubbish. ..not even Jesus would run an institution like covenant university...

Nansense skul

neoOduduwa:
I see how hard the church universities are trying to uphold the religion. But this becoming more like extremism, maybe not in a violent way like the Muslims, but it's obviously extremism. This is the same university where they cut students' hair for being too bushy/long. There millions of Jesus' portraits in churches, yet black people don't question the long hair in the pictures. Why do they think it's ideal for a black man to keep his hair short? Why praise the long hair on a white folk but castigate a fellow black when he does the same?

Africans really have a long way to go and religion is the major burden holding us back.

its pure foolishness and stupidity...

Does the school force any parent to bring his or her child there? If the answer is no, then they should be ready to obey their rules and regulations at all cost as long as you are still under them.
It's not by force to go to private own schools.
If you want freedom, go to government schools.

200 hundred students