A law graduate of the University of Ibadan (UI) and activist, Kayode Bello, has taken his long-running battle with the Nigerian Law School to the Federal High Court in Ibadan, Oyo State, asking the court to compel the institution to readmit him after years of what he described as an unjust denial.
The case, filed before Justice Evelyn Maha and marked FHC/IB/CS/93/2025, is scheduled for hearing on January 27, 2026. Bello argues that there is no provision in the Nigerian Law School’s Code of Conduct that permanently bars his readmission, especially since the expulsion handed to him in 2017 has long expired.
In his sworn affidavit, Bello told the court that new facts and documents have emerged which, he claims, weaken the foundation upon which his expulsion was based. Central to his argument is an allegation that a former Dean of the Faculty of Law at UI, Prof. Oluyemisi Bamgbose, deliberately withheld a pardon letter addressed to him at the time, a move he said played a major role in the events that followed.
According to Bello, he only gained access to a file copy — not the original — of the pardon letter during his Master’s programme at the University of Ibadan. He further recalled that his expulsion from the Nigerian Law School in 2017 came after he raised concerns over poor learning facilities at the Abuja campus.
He also alleged that the Law School authorities ignored an existing court order that allowed him to sit for his Bar final examinations that same year. Court documents indicate that all parties involved have been duly served with the relevant court processes and hearing notices.
In the suit, Bello is asking the court to compel the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa; the Council of Legal Education; the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Issa Ayattou; and several officials of the University of Ibadan to respond to his August 17, 2022 request for intervention over his denied readmission.
He is also seeking an order directing the Council of Legal Education and the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School to readmit him without further delay, insisting that he has already served the full term of his expulsion.
Beyond that, Bello wants the court to compel the UI Students’ Union and its President to explain steps taken on his behalf since August 2022 regarding his efforts to return to Law School. He is also asking the court to declare that he was denied fair hearing by Prof. John Akintayo and Prof. Oluyemisi Bamgbose over issues linked to his academic travel to Switzerland while he was an undergraduate.
Bello is claiming ₦100 million in general damages against all respondents for what he described as denial of justice, psychological trauma, hardship, loss of time, and prolonged stress caused by delays that have kept him from completing his legal training since 2017.
The activist also revealed that although Justice Maha had earlier ordered the reopening of his Master’s student portal at UI, he has now filed Form 48, warning the respondents of the consequences of continued disobedience, in a bid to enable him complete his registration and graduate.
