The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has learnt with shock the expulsion by Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in Northern Nigeria of 37 students over a planned demonstration.

The 37, four of them female, were rusticated for one academic session. In a letter addressed to the affected students on December 9, 2025, the university authorities accused the students of "criminal conspiracy, inciting public disturbance, and cyber-stalking." The accusation relates to a WhatsApp group the students created to mobilise a protest against the university's decision to introduce a third semester.

The MFWA considers the action of Nasarawa University as a blatant abuse of the affected students' right to freedom of expression and of assembly enshrined in Section 39 of Nigeria's constitution. It is also a violation of the victims' right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Section 40 of Nigeria's constitution.

While it is necessary for protests to be regulated to ensure orderliness on campus, in this case, no protest has actually been held. What the university authorities have done amounts to punishing an act which not been carried out, and moreover, which is not an offense.

This is an act of autocratic intolerance that cannot be accepted in a democratic society, much less in an academic institution that should uphold the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

The MFWA, therefore, calls on Nigeria's authorities to ensure that the university recalls the rusticated students and take measures to prevent future abuse of power by any other school authorities.