A Nigerian lawyer, Rasheedat Adeshina, has recounted how her involvement in student union activism at the University of Ilorin resulted in a 14-year legal battle with the institution over her academic certificate.
In an interview by PUNCH, Adeshina said she graduated with a degree in Industrial Chemistry in 2000 but was unable to obtain her certificate until the courts intervened, despite having fulfilled all the academic requirements for graduation.
Adeshina, who was the Assistant Secretary-General of the university’s Students’ Union during the 1997/1998 academic session, said her troubles with the institution began after she became actively involved in defending students’ interests.
She said the university administration suspended her indefinitely and declared her wanted after she challenged some of its actions, adding that she eventually resorted to litigation to defend her rights.
“I finished from the University of Ilorin in 2000, but the university refused to release my results and certificate. They never gave me a clear reason for withholding them,” she said.
According to her, she instituted a suit at the Federal High Court in 2004 and secured victory in 2005. The university appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in 2006 before the matter eventually reached the Supreme Court.
“The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which finally dismissed the university’s appeal in 2014. So, from 2004 to 2014, I was in court fighting for something I had already earned,” she said.
While pursuing the case, Adeshina said she made a major decision to return to school and study Law, having spent a decade without access to her Industrial Chemistry certificate.
She said she began preparing for the General Certificate Examination, sat for the examination in 2011, wrote the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 2012 and gained admission to study Law in 2013.
“By the time I was in 200-Level studying Law, the Supreme Court had ordered the University of Ilorin to release my certificate. I eventually completed my law degree in 2019 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2021,” she said.
Adeshina, who has since obtained an LLM and is pursuing a PhD in Law, said her activism began when she was elected as Assistant Secretary-General of the Students’ Union in 1997.
She explained that her decision to challenge the university administration was influenced by her belief that students should be treated fairly, irrespective of ethnic or personal affiliations.
According to her, the arrival of a new vice-chancellor created tension between the administration and some student activists, particularly over the treatment of students who had been suspended or expelled for participating in union activities.
“I was from Ilorin, just like the vice-chancellor, but I told him that being from the same town did not mean I would support him if he was doing something wrong,” she recalled.
Adeshina said she had campaigned for the reinstatement of about 12 students who had been suspended or expelled over their participation in student unionism, insisting that they had neither cheated in examinations nor engaged in cultism.
She said tensions escalated following a protest over poor conditions on campus and an increase in tuition fees, adding that the Students’ Union was subsequently banned and several students arrested.
“More than 30 days passed, and I was declared wanted across Kwara State. I had to go underground because the authorities were looking for me,” she said.
The lawyer recalled that she continued to support her detained colleagues despite being wanted, sometimes secretly delivering materials to encourage them while they were in custody.
She said the university’s position against her was so strong that the vice-chancellor had allegedly told her that she would never graduate from the institution.
“He told me directly that he would ensure that I would not graduate from the university. That was what he held on to for 14 years after I had already completed my studies,” she said.
Adeshina said the prolonged dispute affected her career prospects because she was unable to make meaningful use of her university qualification, but she refused to allow the situation to derail her life.
She also faulted the slow pace of justice, saying that although she eventually won the case, the decade spent pursuing the matter could not be restored.
“The court awarded me N5m in damages, and the university paid it. But if you lose 10 years of your life, can N5m truly compensate for that? Nothing can give me those years back,” she said.
Reflecting on her eventual call to the Nigerian Bar in 2021, Adeshina said the moment was particularly significant because it represented a victory over those who had sought to frustrate her education.
“I was happy because the same person who said I would never graduate was still alive when the Supreme Court ordered the release of my certificate and when I was called to the Nigerian Bar. They wanted to ruin my life and make me a bad reference point, but they failed,” she said.