By Progress Godfrey, Abuja
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), a Pan-African civil society organisation has condemned what it describes as “violent intimidation and rustication” of more than 25 students by the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK).
CAPPA raised concerns over the expulsion of the students who were involved in a planned peaceful protest, demanding their immediate reinstatement and an end to the crackdown on student activism in Nigeria.
“We call on all stakeholders and unions in the education sector, along with civil society organisations, to speak out against this injustice.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of all suspended students. Furthermore, we urge collective action to halt the growing commercialisation of public education and criminalisation of student organising. This creeping dictatorship in Nigerian universities must be stopped,” CAPPA said in a statement on Wednesday, signed by its Media & Communications Officer, Robert Egbe.
The statement said NSUK suspended the students for one academic session on bogus charges of “criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, and cyberbullying”.
CAPPA added that their only offence was being members of a WhatsApp group created in 2024 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.”
The civil society group worried that rather than engage with the legitimate concerns of students, the university, under the leadership of Prof. Sa’adatu Liman, resorted to monitoring and intimidation as a response. “It utilised security operatives to infiltrate the WhatsApp group, monitor conversations, and identify targeted students for administrative and brute discipline.”
Explaining, the advocacy group said for participating in conversations in the said WhatsApp 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 said the actions were inhumane and a 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.
According to CAPPA’s statement, the rustication at NSUK is part of a deeper rot. It noted that the university’s nullification of its last student union election further exposed its growing authoritarian culture, adding that when the likely result was not going to favour the management’s handpicked candidate, democratic process was simply discarded.
“Higher learning institutions should uphold democracy, critical thinking, and intellectual freedom, providing spaces where students can engage in discourse without fear of retaliation. Instead, we are witnessing an alarming trend where these institutions across the country are rapidly transforming into despotic environments, working overtime to erode student resistance and enforce a culture of silence.
“We are not unaware that the endgame of this deliberate crackdown is to strip undergraduates of critical consciousness, eliminate opposition to the rising cost of education and crumbling learning conditions, and ultimately produce graduates who are nothing more than zombies for the broader society—incapable of questioning or challenging systemic injustices. But what is a society without critical thinkers? A nation that suppresses independent thought and inquiry only breeds conformity, docility, and decay,” the statement added.
CAPPA commended the students for taking the initiative to organise against exploitative policies, affirming its full support and solidarity with all victimised students of the university.