80 UTME candidates facing trial for examination malpractice

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said that no fewer than 80 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates nationwide are undergoing prosecution for various cases of malpractice and fraud in the 2019 examination.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, stated this in a meeting with journalists in Abuja on Thursday. He added that apart from the 80 standing trial, a number of candidates had been jailed for malpractices in the last two months.

He did not specify the number of those jailed.

The registrar noted that although the board spent a lot of money on the ongoing prosecution, it was worth it so that the examination system in the country would be sanitised.

Oloyede said, “We believe there is an organised and sponsored campaign against the UTME for whatever reasons. We have no apology for such people who are attacking us.

“The Public Complaints Commission came here a few days ago with a number of UTME cases. We picked them one after the other and we saw that these candidates either had no case or they were fraudsters. We don’t waste our energy on issues of fraudulent candidates, but we have to let the public know so that they will not be misinformed.

“If anyone has any challenge, he should complain through the normal channels. But let the complaint be genuine. If after we have done our scrutiny and we realise that the candidate has been involved in exam malpractice, we will not allow him or her to go scot-free. The law must take its course.”

UTME candidate arrested for paying 10,000 to upgrade score

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidate, Cletus Kokowa, for allegedly hiring a syndicate to upgrade his scores from 162 to 206.

The NSCDC arrested Kokowa on Thursday at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board headquarters in Bwari, Abuja, where he confessed that he was asked to pay N10,000 for the upgrading.

Our correspondent learnt that Kokowa, with Registration Number 95329290ED from Bayelsa State, contacted the syndicate through a WhatsApp group a few weeks ago after he learnt that they could upgrade his score from 162.

The syndicate later sent a fake result notification to Kokowa, stating that his score was now 206. When his UTME result however remained unchanged on the JAMB portal, Kokowa’s father, Garen, wrote a letter of complaint to the board asking for the rectification of his son’s scores.

The board thereafter invited Kokowa to come with the two results as proof, after which he confessed on Thursday to have employed a syndicate.

The candidate’s uncle, an army officer, who declined to give his name, accompanied Kokowa to the JAMB headquarters.

The boy was afterwards handed over to the NSCDC.

Our correspondent gathered that Kokowa had checked his UTME result 15 times and found that he scored 162, but he was convinced that there was an error from the board.

Kokowa told our correspondent that although he knew upgrading scores was an offence, he did not believe he would be caught.

He said, “Those people sent a mail to my electronic mail inbox that they could help me to upgrade my score. I then sent them my registration number and e-mail address. When the results were released and I checked, they showed me 206. Then, one of them called me and demanded payment.

“I later went to check and I found 162. I was confused. I had heard that upgrading scores was an offence, but I didn’t really believe it. I did not tell my father and my uncle about the syndicate.”

The JAMB Registrar, Oloyede, said the board would ensure the arrest and prosecution of candidates discovered to have engaged in fraudulent practices before, during and after the examination.

Gunmen abduct two Chinese, kill police orderly in Edo

Unknown gunmen have reportedly abducted two Chinese working with a glass and aluminium company in Benin, Edo State.

The police orderly attached to the victims was also killed during the operation that took place on Wednesday at the Utesi community along the Benin-Auchi Road, where the company is located.

The victims were said to be on their way home after the close of work when the gunmen blocked their vehicle and took them into custody after killing the police orderly.

A source, who spoke with our correspondent in confidence, said, “As soon as the victims came out of the company’s premises, the gunmen, who apparently had been waiting for them, started trailing them.”

The source added that the gunmen killed the cop attached to the victims, before abducting the Chinese.

Seven Reported Dead In Bahamas Helicopter Crash

Seven people have been reported dead in a helicopter crash off the Bahamas, including US billionaire coal magnate Chris Cline.

The chopper went down near a small outcrop in the country’s north early on Thursday morning, the Nassau Guardian newspaper reported the minister of tourism and aviation as saying.

“We’ve located the craft. It seems as if the seven passengers are still onboard so therefore submerged, but we can’t confirm anything yet,” said Dionisio D’Aguilar.

“I guess it crashed shortly after takeoff”, he said, adding authorities are trying to get “to the helicopter and retrieve any souls… and start the investigation.”

The pilot did not ask permission before leaving, D’Aguilar said.

West Virginia newspaper The Register-Herald reported friends of Chris Cline said the helicopter was travelling from the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale in Florida when it crashed.

“Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend,” the governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice, wrote on Twitter, confirming Chris Cline’s death.

The businessman “built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man,” Justice said.