Eight months after Governor Umo Eno linked AKSU’s law programme approval to his APC defection, the university has finally secured Council of Legal Education approval to admit students.
Eight months after Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno attributed the approval of a law programme at Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) to his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the university has finally appeared on the Council of Legal Education’s list of institutions authorised to admit students into the Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) programme.
AKSU, located at Ikot Akpaden in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, is among the institutions on the latest list.
The development stands out because the university had been repeatedly omitted from earlier lists published by the Council, despite having received approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to commence its law programme.
This development brings fresh attention to Mr Eno’s November 2025 claim that the approval for the university’s law faculty was a benefit Akwa Ibom secured from his decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party for the APC.
Mr Eno made the claim at an emergency meeting with 783 of his political appointees in Uyo on 19 November 2025, shortly after his defection to the APC.
Excerpts from the meeting were published on Facebook by Anietie Usen, a journalist and media aide to the governor.
According to the account, Mr Eno told the gathering that his new political alignment with the APC-led federal government helped Akwa Ibom secure projects, including the federal Renewed Hope housing estate and approval for a law faculty at AKSU.
“What just happened takes a lot of relationship building and relationship management to get those things into our state,” Mr Usen quoted the governor as saying in reference to the projects.
Mr Eno then argued that remaining in an opposition party would limit the state’s ability to secure federal interventions.
“I say this to say that we cannot continue to sit down in an opposition political party because there are too many things we cannot do for ourselves. Too many things,” the governor was quoted as saying.
PREMIUM TIMES subsequently examined the claim and found that the NUC approval for AKSU’s law programme was based on an academic and institutional assessment rather than political affiliation.
AKSU’s own official document showed that the NUC approval was conveyed in a letter dated 10 November 2025, nine days before Mr Eno’s 19 November meeting with his aides.
The university said the approval followed a resource verification exercise that authorised AKSU to commence a full-time LL.B. programme from the 2025/2026 academic session.
The NUC is the federal agency responsible for approving academic programmes in Nigerian universities.
Franca Chukwuonwo, the spokeswoman for the commission, told PREMIUM TIMES in December that universities receive approval when they meet the prescribed requirements.
“Why won’t they be given accreditation if they fulfil the requirements?” she told the newspaper.
Asked whether political connections to the presidency could influence approval of academic programmes, she replied: “Sorry, there is nothing like that. This has nothing to do with the presidency. When once you fulfil the requirements, they will give you accreditation.”
Although the NUC had authorised AKSU to establish the law programme, that approval did not automatically confer eligibility on the university’s law students to proceed to the Nigerian Law School.
The Council of Legal Education regulates legal education and determines which universities are authorised to admit students into the LL.B. programme for the purpose of legal education leading to professional qualification.
In March 2026, the Council published a list of 114 universities approved to admit students for Law. However, AKSU was not on that list.
PREMIUM TIMES reported in April that the omission was particularly notable because the university had already admitted students into its law programme for the 2025/2026 academic session.
The Council had warned that students admitted into law programmes by universities without its approval would not be eligible for admission into the Nigerian Law School.
The omission continued in June when the Council released another updated list, this time containing 117 approved universities yet AKSU was again absent.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the repeated omission raised questions about the status of the students already admitted into the university’s law programme and placed further questions on Mr Eno’s earlier claim that his political realignment had secured the approval.
The situation has now changed. The Council’s latest notice, dated 14 August 2026, lists 122 universities authorised to admit students into the LL.B. programme.
AKSU is among the newly recognised institutions. With the latest list, three universities in Akwa Ibom State are now recognised for law programme: the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State University and Topfaith University, Mkpatak.
The development means AKSU has moved from being repeatedly excluded from the Council’s approved lists to becoming one of the 122 universities officially authorised to admit Law students.
