FEMI OLADOTUN V. THE STATE

NWEZE JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): On 2 May 2006, at the unholy hour of 1.45am, when all diligent undergraduates were either having their well-deserved respite from the tedium of the previous day’s lectures and assignments or swotting in readiness for the following day’s academic work; lectures; experiments; class quizzes etc, the appellant, who was then a second year Sociology student of the University of Ilorin, opted for a carousal, a drinkingbout and the revelry of a birthday binge, an undergraduate, indeed!

Anyway, his choice not only earned him the loss of his liberty, it actually clogged the wheel of his academic career, an academic career that should have, if he passed all his examinations and was adjudged of good conduct, ended last year with his acquisition of a prized University Degree! But I digress! Let us, now, recreate the events that prompted this appeal. The appellant, Femi Oladotun, a student of the University of Ilorin, was arraigned before the High Court of…