The Council of Legal Education, CLE, has banned five law students from sitting the Bar Final Examination for 10 years over examination malpractice.
The decision was taken at the council’s third-quarter hybrid meeting held on August 13, 2026, at the headquarters of the Nigerian Law School in Bwari, Abuja.
Secretary to the Council and Director of Administration, CLE, Aderonke Osho, said in a press release that the meeting considered and approved reports of the examination misconduct committee on alleged cases arising from the December 2025 Bar Final Examination.
“Following consideration of the reports, the Council approved the disqualification of five (5) candidates found guilty of examination misconduct and barred them from sitting the Bar Final Examination for a period of ten (10) years,” Osho said in the release.
The council also approved sanctions against two students found culpable of acts of indiscipline-related misconduct.
CLE, however, did not disclose the names of the affected students nor their universities.
Osho added that the meeting considered policies, regulatory, academic and administrative matters relating to legal education and the administration of the law school.
In April, the council said about 1,067 candidates failed the 2025 Bar Final Examination out of a total of 7,602 candidates who sat for the examination.
The results showed that 212 candidates earned first-class honours, while 1,216 obtained second-class upper.
Another 2,961 candidates graduated with second-class lower, 1,622 passed, and 314 recorded conditional passes.
A total of 210 candidates were absent, while the council put the overall pass rate at 79.1 percent, representing a decline from the previous year.
Meanwhile, a total of 983 candidates failed the 2026 bar final (resit), representing 50.3 percent of the 1,955 candidates who sat for the examination.
According to the council, only 883 candidates passed the examination held in May, giving an overall pass rate of 45.3 percent, while 54.7 percent of the candidates did not attain the prescribed pass mark.
The bar final is the qualifying examination conducted by the Nigerian Law School for law graduates who have completed the prescribed vocational training programme at the institution. It is typically held annually and is required for candidates seeking to qualify for enrollment as legal practitioners in Nigeria.
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