The Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, has ordered Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to reverse the downgraded degree classification of a graduate, Shekoni Jemima Oluwagbemisola.
The court held that the institution acted unlawfully and violated the plaintiff’s fundamental rights.
In the judgment, Justice Adefunmilola Demi-Ajayi condemned the university’s decision to alter the plaintiff’s result from “Pass with Credit” to “Pass,” describing the move as baseless and unjustifiable.
“Having found that the university breached, violated and infringed on the fundamental rights of the applicant by unlawfully and illegally changing her grade from ‘Pass with Credit’ to ‘Pass’, the court holds that there is no doubt that the illegal and unlawful action of the defendant must have caused the applicant great inconvenience and hardship,” the judge held, according to report by The Guardian.
The court awarded N5 million in damages against the university and an additional N800,000 as the cost of the suit.
Oluwagbemisola, a 2023 graduate of Physiotherapy with a Bachelor of Medical Rehabilitation (B.MR), had dragged the institution to court in Suit No. FHC/OS/CS/107/2025, challenging what she described as an arbitrary alteration of her academic record.
According to her counsel, Princewill Okoroafor of P. O. Okoroafor & Co (The Daniels Chambers), the university had initially issued her a Statement of Result dated November 23, 2023, confirming her classification as “Pass with Credit.”
The same classification was publicly affirmed during OAU’s 47th Convocation in December 2023, where she appeared in the official brochure with that grade.
Trouble, however, began when she later applied for her original certificate and discovered that her classification had been downgraded to “Pass.”
After exhausting internal remedies without success, she sought judicial intervention.
In a scathing assessment, Justice Demi-Ajayi described the university’s conduct as “arbitrary and reckless,” faulting it for failing to adhere to due process and established academic standards.
The judge also criticised the institution for not publishing the plaintiff’s final-year results and for failing to properly investigate the alleged discrepancy before making the alteration.
The court noted that the university’s action disrupted the plaintiff’s academic and professional trajectory, particularly as she had already used the earlier result for postgraduate applications.
It further held that, “a reasonable person would conclude that the applicant suffered emotional and psychological stress as a result of the defendant’s actions.”
Relying on the appellate decision in Okafor & Anor v AIG Police Zone II Onikan & Ors (2019), the court held that the circumstances justified the award of exemplary damages.
Consequently, the court ordered OAU to issue the plaintiff a corrected degree certificate reflecting “Pass with Credit,” in line with its earlier publications and the approval granted by the university Senate on November 20, 2023.
All reliefs sought by the plaintiff were granted.
