News Investigators/ The Federal High Court in Abuja fixed Feb. 26 to hear the preliminary objection filed by the University of Nigeria, Nsuka (UNN) against a suit instituted by the former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji.
Justice Hauwa Yilwa fixed the date to allow the 3rd to 7th defendants, through their counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, served the preliminary objection on the 1st and 2nd defendants who were not represented in court.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit are Minister of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The UNN had jointly filed the preliminary objection alongside its Vice-Chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, the Registrar of UNN; a former acting Vice-Chancellor, Oguenjiofor Ujam; and the Senate of the university who are 3rd to 7th respondents respectively.
They had prayed the court to strike out the ex-minister’s suit for being statute barred.
They also urged Justice Yilwa to strike out the motion on notice for prerogative writs for being incompetent and wrongly commenced.
NAN reports that Mr Nnaji had filed the suit
following allegations of certificate forgery levelled against him.
The former minister, in an ex-parte motion, had sought an order granting him leave to issue prerogative writs prohibiting the university and its officials from “tampering with” or continuing to “tamper with” his academic records, among others.
Mr Nnaji, in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1909/2025, sued the Minister of Education, the NUC, UNN and Prof. Ortuanya as 1st to 4th respondents.
He also joined the Registrar of UNN; Prof. Ujam and the Senate of the university as 5th to 7th respondents respectively.
He sought the leave to issue a prerogative writ of mandamus compelling the university and its officials to release his academic transcript to him, and asked the Minister of Education and the NUC to exercise their supervisory powers to compel UNN to do so.
He equally sought an interim injunction restraining UNN and its officials from “tampering” with his academic records pending the determination of the substantive suit, among others.
But in their preliminary objection, they prayed the court to strike out the suit for want of jurisdiction.
They also sought an order awarding substantial costs in favour of the 3rd, 4th and 6th defendants.
In a nine-ground of argument, they said the motion ex-parte for leave was not filed within three three months of the occurrence of the subject matter.
They argued that this was contrary to Order 34 Rule 4(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 and Section 2 (a) of the Public Officers Protection Act 2004, which rendered the entire proceedings incompetent and rob this court of jurisdiction.
“The substantive motion for prerogative orders was wrongly brought by motion on notice instead of an originating motion as required under Order 34Rule 5 (1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019.
“The application is incompetent, premature, speculative there being no prior request or denial of release of academic records or any evidence of interference with the applicant’s academic records prior to the commencement of this action,” they said.
They equally argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain “matters concerning student academic records, examinations, results and transcripts.
They argue that the matter is not proceedings arising from the administration or management of any agency within the exclusive jurisdiction in Section 251(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
They also argued that internal remedy has not been exhausted and the applicants’ fundamental rights has not been breached.
Besides, they said no reasonable cause of action was disclosed against the 3rd to 7th respondents, particularly the 4th respondent, Prof. Ortuanya, who acted solely in his official capacity as VC of UNN, among others.
When the case was called on Tuesday, Uche who appeared for the 3rd to 7th defendants, said the matter was to hear their objections.
Although Nnaji’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, acknowledged the receipt of the preliminary objection, there was no proof of service of such in the court record to show that the 1st and 2nd defendants had been served.
Justice Yilwa then adjourned the matter until Feb. 26 and ordered that the Minister of Education and NUC, who are 1st and 2nd defendants, be served with the process.
NAN
