Boko Haram: JAMB Suspends UTME In Borno

The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) held yesterday across the country with very few unhealthy incidents recorded. Apart from Borno State where LEADERSHIP Sunday correspondent reported that officials of the exams directed about 400 candidates to shun the examination centre over fear of possible insurgents’ attacks, most of the 392 examinations towns recorded a hitch-free exercise. In some centres, however, incidents of examination malpractice and arrest of fake candidates were reported: 16 exam cheats were nabbed in Ogun and Imo states while six fake candidates were caught in Delta State. According to our correspondent who monitored the examination, the 400 candidates in Borno State were told to shun the examination for fear of attacks by the insurgent group, Boko Haram. The directive to the candidates to refrain from writing the examination came from the management of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). There were reports on Friday that some sect members unleashed attacks on four communities in Borno — Dikwa, Kala Balge, Gambulga and Gwoza — leaving in their wake scores of people dead, including JAMB candidates. The sect was alleged to have attacked a teachers’ college in Dikwa and killed seven people, burnt down the school library and administrative block. Kala Balge was reported to be the most devastated as 60 people were killed by the armed men who went on the rampage. It was also reported that when they left Kala Balge, they attacked three other towns in the area where a total of 150 people were allegedly killed. But the registrar and chief executive of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, while monitoring the conduct of the examination in centres within the Federal Capital Territory, debunked such claims, saying the victims of Friday’s killings were not candidates of UTME as being speculated in some quarters. He said the 400 candidates would be made to sit for the examination at a date to be announced later by the board, adding that they will be examined through the computer-based test. Ojerinde said: “They were not JAMB candidates; of course they were attacked and JAMB candidates who were supposed to go to Maiduguri have decided to stay at home; they are about 400 of them and we have told them to stay where they belong. In Delta State, plain-cloth security agents assigned to monitor the examination arrested six fake students at one of the centres in a popular secondary school (name withheld) in the state capital. DSP Celestina Kalu, police public relations officer in the state who confirmed the arrest of the fake students, disclosed that upon interrogation the suspects made confessional statements that they were “hired” as impersonators for some of the candidates, adding that they also confessed to have been exam syndicates in the last 10 years. Describing the situation as unfortunate, DSP Kalu said that the suspects would be charged to court upon completion of investigation and warned those perpetrating examination fraud to steer clear as the long arm of the law might catch up with them. In Imo State, at least 10 candidates were barred from taking this year’s UTME following their misconduct during the examination. A source who disclosed this to LEADERSHIP Sunday said that three of the culprits were from Emmanuel College centre, Owerri; two were said to be from the Ikenegbu centre while five candidates were caught in examination malpractice at the Bishop Lasbery centre, Irete. All affected students were sent home immediately they were discovered in the act of cheating. The state commissioner of education, Uche Ejiogu, warned students taking their exams in the state to desist from it or face the law. In Ogun State, no fewer than six candidates were caught for examination malpractice. The candidates with examination/seat numbers: D12501135, D12501052, D12501164, D12501070, D12501075 and D12501147 were caught allegedly in possession of materials containing answers to the question papers given them at Mercy E-learning centre, Asero, Abeokuta.