Alumni of the Lead City University, LCU, faculty have urged the institution to appeal the sanction by the Council of Legal Education (CLE).
According to them, LCU was wrongfully sanctioned as the report written against the faculty was not what what CLE team led by Prof Isah Hayatu Ciroma pronounced after inspecting facilities used by the faculty.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan, a copy of which was made available to OYOINSIGHT.COM, the alumni explained that
1. The attention of the Alumni of Lead City University Faculty of Law has been drawn to the very misleading reportage about its Law Faculty which has produced both erudite Lawyers and Teachers of the Law for this and other Law Faculties nationally and internationally including a Judge in United States in the last 19years.
2. The Faculty enjoys the full accreditation of the National Universities Commission for all its academic programmesnotably the LLB, LLM and Ph.D Laws.
3 . Likewise the esteemed Council for Legal Education approved and accredited its Law programme in a joint visitation with NUC. The erudite team of scholars and professionals that appraised the first class facilities and human resources of the Faculty from the Council of Legal Education was led by Professor Isah Hayatou Ciroma, SAN. Thus qualifying the graduates of the Law Faculty to proceed to the Law School and attain the envious status of Barristers and Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
4. Our Faculty of Law presents a purpose built 2-floor Faculty Building, a 735 seaters Lecture Hub and large classrooms of various sizes comprising of the following:
These are facts we have always known for over a decade.
5. It is no news that the Nigerian Law School admits graduates far above the so-called admission quota for good reasons which often include delays in reviewing applications for increase in quota coming from the numerous institutions offering the Law programme. There is some respite simply because It is not every Law graduate that aspires for immediate transition to the Law School. While awaiting the promised review of its initial quota of 50 the Faculty has , with the gracious acquiescence of the Director General of the Law school Professor Isah HayatouCiroma enabled the admission of additional numbers into the Law School as students should not suffer unduly while theusually long review processes and protocols are ongoing. Indeed, in the list for 2023 admissions, 30 of the candidates were added to the Dean’s list from the Faculty by the DG himself. This has been the trend over the years. We must commend the assistance of the DG in helping the University to accommodate demands of those willing to fulfill their dreams to study Law.
6. We understand that the recent visitation to the Faculty by the CLE team once again led by the erudite Prof Isah HayatuCiroma pronounced positively on the state of the facilities of the Faculty but a clearly wrong report was placed before the meeting of the Council. It was a cut and paste resolution which did not reflect the true state of affairs in our First Class institution. Furthermore, the report suppressed the highly relevant intervention of the Presidency on the matter- a flagrant disrespect to the High office of the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.
7. Accordingly, We urge the authorities of Lead City University to diligently appeal the announced decision while we urge the esteemed CLE to immediately grant this and other institutions their right to fair hearing before making public pronouncements that may unduly be damaging to the integrity of some of thesegreat institutions and their alumni.
