A Nigerian law firm, F.K. Nnadi & Co., has issued pre-action notices to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, over alleged irregularities in their 2025 Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME) results.
The notices, signed by Kene Nnadi, allege that both universities awarded unjustifiably low scores and withheld the results of some candidates without explanation, potentially jeopardising their admission prospects.
The firm also sent petitions to the House of Representatives and the National Universities Commission (NUC), requesting intervention. The notices and petitions were shared by Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare, a software solution for schools, who has previously raised concerns about alleged infractions in the Post-UTME process.
In separate notices, F.K. Nnadi & Co. gave OAU three months to comply with its requests, while UNILAG was given 30 days. The firm requested access to Post-UTME answer scripts, the marking schemes used, and the release of withheld results.
It also demanded that students flagged for malpractice be given a proper hearing to defend themselves before any punitive action. The notices warn that failure to comply would lead to legal action at a Federal High Court to enforce candidates’ rights and seek remedies, including declaratory reliefs, injunctions, and damages.
UNILAG has denied that a technical glitch affected any candidates. Its spokesperson, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, stated that cases flagged for malpractice resulted from “clear violations of established examination guidelines,” with detections supported by multiple monitoring mechanisms, including secure video surveillance.
Mr. Onyia, through a series of tweets, claimed that both institutions used the same Post-UTME software, which he says contained a bug that wrongly flagged candidates for malpractice and mismatched scores for others.
He said he had compiled 752 reports from affected candidates and proposed an independent audit for any university willing to participate.
This development comes after a challenging year for national examinations in Nigeria. In May, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) reviewed its 2025 UTME results after complaints from candidates, discovering a glitch that affected over 370,000 students, prompting a rescheduling of the exam. Later, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) briefly suspended its West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) result checker due to technical issues, later revising performance rates from 38 per cent to 62 per cent.
In its petitions, F.K. Nnadi & Co. asked the NUC and the House Committee on Tertiary Education to mandate fair hearings for students flagged for malpractice, release withheld results, and ensure transparency and accountability in Post-UTME processes.
“Direct both universities to release the withheld results of students who have not been accused of any wrongdoing. Ensure that affected students are granted access to their answer scripts and the marking scheme used, in the interest of transparency,” the petition read.
