The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, informed the public on Friday that the board was screening results of the 2019 UTME conducted on April 11 and 18 in 698 computer-based test centres across the nation with over 1,886,000 candidates for malpractices, saying 123 suspects had been arrested and were standing trial nationwide.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, disclosed this at the board’s headquarters in Abuja, while parading a staff member of the examination board, Mr Adamu Musa, who allegedly collected N25,000 from an admission seeker in 2018.
Musa was attached to the Information Technology Service of the body.
The registrar said, “He collected N25,000 for admission. So, we are not hiding anything. Even internally, we are doing scrutiny. Anybody caught will be dealt with according to the law.”
Speaking with newsmen, Musa confessed to the crime, adding that he had refunded N10,000 to the admission seeker when the admission did not come through.
He narrated that, “The person came to me for admission and I told him that I knew people who would help. I collected N25,000 from him. But it did not work. So I refunded N10,000. He was the one who reported to the registrar. The person I contacted to assist the admission seeker said they had already closed the admission.
“I apologise and I want JAMB to temper justice with mercy. This is the first candidate I collected money from.”
The person who paid Musa N25,000, One Bakare Damilola, said trouble started when the admission did not come through and the JAMB worker refused to refund the money.
He said, “I am not the one seeking admission. I was sent by the father of the candidate involved. I came and explained everything to this man (Musa). I wrote the candidate’s registration number down and he asked me to wait outside. Later, he told me it would involve money.
“The father of the girl, Mr Olaoye, who is based in Lagos State, sent the money to Musa’s account and I have the teller. Mr Olaoye was desperate for the admission of his daughter because she had stayed home for eight years. Eventually, the admission did not come through. We asked Musa to refund the money. He kept postponing and I reported him to the registrar,” he explained.
