Seizure of students’ results by WAEC illegal – Falana

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), on Thursday faulted the West African Examination Council’s resort to seizure of results of thousands of candidates who sat for the May/June 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examination ‎in 13 states due to the failure of their governments to pay the requisite fees.

Falana in a state‎ment said the act of the examination body smacked of impunity, arguing that the proper thing for it to do was to go to court.

He said, “From the statement issued by the WAEC, it is crystal clear that the government-sponsored candidates are not being punished for engaging in examination malpractice but on account of the indebtedness of their state governments.

“While WAEC is at liberty to adopt legal measures deemed fit to compel the indebted states to fulfill their financial obligations it ought to be pointed out that the seizure of the results of the affected candidates is illegal and unconstitutional.

“Instead of taking the law into its hands by seizing results and thereby penalising thousands of innocent candidates, WAEC ought to have sued the indebted states for the recovery of the outstanding examination fees.

“The action of WAEC smacks of  impunity since our courts have had cause to set aside the illegal seizure or cancellation of results of candidates without due process by the examination body.”

‎He said by virtue of democracy which Nigeria operates, no one’s property could be seized without a court order.

“In a country which operates under the rule of law a property of a citizen cannot be seized without following the procedure laid down by law‎,” he said.

He said the students who lose admission into higher institution of learning because of the seizure of their WASSSCE‎ results are likely to be awarded damages if they sue WAEC.

He said, “All the institutions of higher learning in the country are currently processing the admission of students for the 2015/2016 academic session.

“The candidates whose results are being withheld by WAEC may lose the opportunity of gaining admission this year due to the indebtedness of their state governments. While the law sympathises with WAEC, its decision to resort to self help has violated the fundamental rights of the candidates to fair hearing who are not parties to the contract or understanding between WAEC and the indebted states.

“As the punishment meted out to the candidates by WAEC is a gross violation of their fundamental rights to property and fair hearing, the results should be released forthwith. Otherwise if WAEC is sued in the circumstance, a human rights court is likely to order the immediate release of the results in addition to the award of exemplary and punitive damages to each of the candidates.”

(Punch)