Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal high Court Oyo State Division, has reinstated student activists Ayodele Aduwo and Mide Gbadegesin who were suspended by the University of Ibadan for four semesters for protesting against hike in school fees.

The court also declared as illegal the persecution of Messrs Aduwo, Gbadegesin and Nice Linus who wasn’t formally suspended but has continued to experience maltreatment from school authorities, including being denied the opportunity to resume her role as a legislator on the UI Student Representative Council despite securing a majority mandate in the election.

The student activists’ ordeal began on May 13, 2024, when they protested with placards with the inscriptions “No To Fee Hike,” and #FEESMUSTFALL” during a Students’ Union inauguration on UI campus.

The trio were forcibly removed from the venue by school authorities, and were physically assaulted by soldiers attached to “Operation Bust” on the alleged order of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Kayode Adebowale.

The students were later subjected to disciplinary proceedings that led to the suspension of Messrs Aduwo and Gbadegesin for four semesters in 2025, while Ms Linus continued to suffer systemic persecution by school authorities. 

The student activists filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court challenging their suspension and victimisation by the university authorities.

Delivering judgement on Wednesday April 15, 2026, Ms Maha referenced the student activists’ testimony that they were dragged out of the hall by the university’s internal security operatives who handed them over to a waiting mob that insulted them and beat them to a stupor; and were profiled on the spot as criminals and handed over to soldiers of the “Operation Bust” unit as dangerous cultists. 

“The university authorities did not deny these damning allegations,” the judge noted.

Ms Maha ordered the reinstatement of the students, declared all of the university’s decisions against the student activists as null and void, while granting an injunction mandating the University of Ibadan to stop victimising them.