UTME 2019: JAMB Appoints SAN To Prosecute 100 Suspects

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to prosecute about 100 persons allegedly involved in various malpractices during the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that held between April 11 and 18.

Naija News reports that JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital while speaking on ‘Admissions into tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria’ at the 23rd annual seminar of the Nigerian Academy of Education.

The JAMB Registrar narrated how its Closed Circuit Television Cameras caught exam cheats in some CBT centres, saying professional writers hid in toilets and later replaced the UTME candidates who pretended they went to the toilet to ease themselves.

This online news platform understands that the development has raised fears that results from those centres may be cancelled.

The registrar did not name the SAN leading the prosecution reportedly for security reasons; he did not also state any day the 2019 UTME results would be released.

His words: “When we were watching the clips, we called our staff to come and answer questions. These were clips of people, our own staff, who did what was not right. It (malpractice) is not just a matter of the past, it is still present.

“We see a lot. But we have problems. If I were to be punishing every member of staff of JAMB that is committing infractions, I will not focus on the assignment. I will be going from one disciplinary committee to the other and my attention will be diverted.

“Today, we have no fewer than 100 in police cells across the country who were caught for examination malpractices. I have appointed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is a former solicitor-general to help me oversee all these so that the suspects can be brought to book. My director of legal matters asked me, ‘what offences should we charge these people for; for multiple registrations?’ And I said, why can’t we go to the Examination Malpractice Act? So, my problem has started by having to draft the charges, despite the fact that we have evidence against them.”

Meanwhile, JAMB had on April 22 said no fewer than 100 UTME candidates were arrested nationwide by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the police.