OAU, IFE ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATING AGAINST YORUBA STUDENTS

A parent and national leader of Anti-Cult Activities in Nigeria, Akin Okunowo, has petitioned the Governing Council of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, demanding the abolition of state-based admission cut-off marks, which he alleges disadvantage Yoruba students.

The cut-off petition, dated October 23, 2026, accused the university of setting different cut-off marks for candidates seeking admission into the same courses based on their states of origin, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE ALLEGATION

Okunowo cited figures he claimed were admission cut-off marks for Law and Accounting.

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For Law, he listed cut-off marks of 76.875 for Osun, 76.53 for Oyo and 75.78 for Ogun, compared with 57.05 for Kaduna and 53.43 for Kebbi.

For Accounting, he listed 63.20 for Ogun and Oyo, and 55.70 for Lagos, alongside lower figures for some other states .

He said his son, who was born, raised and educated in Lagos, scored 63% in Accounting but was denied admission because the cut-off mark for candidates of Ogun origin was 63.20.

“My son who was born in Lagos State, raised and educated in Lagos scored 63% for accounting, but you put his cut-off at 63.20 because his great-grandparents were from Ogun State,” he stated .

He alleged that two other candidates, one of Kaduna origin who scored 59% and another of Lagos origin who scored 56%, were admitted.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT

Okunowo argued that the policy violated Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on place of origin.

“Your blood is more important than your brain. The state of your grandparents is more important than your score,” he wrote.

“Your cut-off mark system is killing merit, killing OAU and killing Nigeria and its future — abolish it now!”.

He urged the university to address educational inequalities by providing more schools, teachers, funding and remedial programmes to disadvantaged states rather than lowering admission cut-off marks for competitive courses.

“If a state is educationally less developed, give it more schools, more teachers, more funding, more bridging programs. Don’t give it lower cut-off for Law, Medicine, and other courses,” he wrote.

THE DEMANDS

Okunowo called on the OAU Governing Council to abolish state-of-origin cut-off marks for the 2026 admission exercise and adopt a system allocating 70% of admission decisions to merit and 30% to catchment considerations based on where candidates live and attend school.

He also called for the publication of all cut-off marks before admission begins and urged the university to restore its tradition of academic merit.

“OAU did not become Great Ife because of shameful cut-off marks like this. It became Great Ife because of merit. You are destroying its standard,” he stated .

The petition was addressed to the university’s Governing Council through the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar, with copies sent to the President, the Minister of Education, the National Universities Commission, JAMB and the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education.

WHY IT MATTERS

The petition raises fundamental questions about fairness and merit in Nigerian university admissions.

The use of state-of-origin cut-off marks is not unique to OAU. It is part of a broader policy of catchment area admissions designed to address educational inequalities across the country.

But for parents like Okunowo, the policy has become a tool of discrimination against candidates from states with higher academic performance.

Whether the petition leads to a review of the policy remains to be seen. But it has opened a conversation that many universities would rather avoid. ValidViewNetwork reports.