The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has handed a 19 year–old candidate in the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, Chinedu Ifesinachi John who alleged that his result was altered to the Nigeria Police for investigation.
The candidate had claimed that he scored 380 in the examination conducted in June this year but was surprised to see 265 as his score from the board.
He had claimed that after several enquiries over the alleged mix up on his result, he continued to see 265 as his score against the 380 he claimed.
Sequel to the alleged “alteration” of the result, his father, John Ifenkpam had approached an Enugu – based lawyer, Ikeazor Akaiwe wrote to JAMB asking for another opportunity for the candidate to retake the examination, demanding N1 billion as damages.
The lawyer had said the N1 billion was to cover for the physical and emotional trauma the boy had been through from being offered “two separate scores.”
John also claimed that his UTME scores from 2019 till 2021 had been “altered” by the board, stressing that it has denied him the opportunity to study medicine at the university.
However, on Friday, the management of the board led by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, invited the candidate, his father, and lawyers who travelled down to Abuja from Enugu state for clarifications.
Upon their arrival, the board tendered evidence to counter the 380 scores as claimed by John and his legal representatives. The documentary evidence tendered by the board revealed that John actually scored 265, not the 380 he had claimed.
Oloyede accused the candidate and his lawyers of result tampering, adding that he will be handed over to the police for further investigation and subsequently prosecuted.
The registrar said John was among eleven other candidates who allegedly forged their results, stating that the board is working towards prosecuting them.
He stated that the original result issued to john would be withdrawn pending the end of the investigation.
The registrar said: “We have 11 of them who tampered with their results. Two of them are already being prosecuted. The remaining ones we are going to withdraw their results and prosecute them. The main purpose is to sanitise the system, including our own staff.
“There was never any communication of 380 with this boy. Because this boy has accused JAMB, we are going to withhold his result until the investigation is concluded. We are going to request that our interactions with him be subjected to the public.”
His lawyer, Ikeazor, appealed to the board to instead give room for further investigation.
He said: “I will not stand against an investigation. Let there be an investigation but what I will not agree to is to prejudge him.”
Earlier, John had said: “The result I have been receiving is not the result I am entitled to. I wrote the first jamb in 2019. The first time they sent 328 later I saw 278 score when I checked it. I printed it. I couldn’t meet up for admission that year. I wanted to study medicine and surgery at the University of Ibadan.
“In 2020 the same thing happened. I scored 343 by the time I went to the portal to print I saw 306. I used the 306 and it gave me admission in UI. But because I didn’t have further mathematics I had to forfeit it.
“I decided to leave medicine and surgery for them in 2021 so I picked petroleum engineering. In 2021, JAMB issued me two results. I saw 380 the first time I checked then the second I saw 265.”
The candidate, however, later confessed after the Board discovered that he saved his sister’s number on his phone as 55019 and used the phone to send the fake result to his own phone.
He pleaded for mercy saying he committed the offence after he discovered that the result he got could not give him his desired course in school.
