Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has expressed dissatisfaction with the rustication of more than 25 students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), over a planned demonstration.
NSUK management had handed down suspension on the students for one academic session.
The affected students were accused of “criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, and cyberbullying.”
CAPPA in a statement its Media & Communications Officer, Robert Egbe released, labelled the school authorities’ action as “violent intimidation” and demanded the reinstatement of the students.
It said, the students committed no offence but were exercising their inalienable right to peaceful protest.
“Their only offence was being members of a WhatsApp group created last year to discuss and mobilise for a peaceful protest 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.
“Rather than engaging with the legitimate concerns of students, the university—under the leadership of Prof. Sa’adatu Liman—resorted to surveillance and coercion as a response. It utilised security operatives to infiltrate the WhatsApp group, monitor conversations, and identify targeted students for administrative and brute discipline.
“For participating in conversations in the group, students who spoke to CAPPA said they were tracked, hounded on campus, arrested, handcuffed, and chained at their feet before being dragged to the police station, where their phones were seized. They endured harrowing nights in detention before securing bail—only to be slapped with rustication letters in December 2024.
“CAPPA condemns these inhumane actions and the 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.
“Sadly, the repression at NSUK is part of a deeper rot. The university’s nullification of its last student union election further exposes its growing authoritarian culture. When the likely result was not going to favour the management’s handpicked candidate, democratic process was simply discarded,” the statement read partly.
