JAMB arrests NDA candidate for falsifying UTME result

Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Thursday, paraded a 20 year old, candidate that applied for admission into Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), for falsification of 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The candidate, Cletus Kokowa, from Bayelsa state, was paraded at JAMB headquarters, Abuja, by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.

Oloyede said: “We have a case of Cletus that had the courage to write us and claimed that when he checked his result using 55209, he saw 206 but when he went back few days after, he saw 162. We promised to pay his transport down to Abuja and accommodation, so he can come and prove his claim.

“He came with his uncle who is an Army Officer. We asked them some questions only to discover that he is a fraudster and his claim was not true. He however confessed to what he did. We will hand him over to the police for prosecution. We had repeatedly advised candidates to beware of fraudsters.

“There is a campaign of calumny going round by people who either knowingly or otherwise are employed to do the hatchet job. Many people always claim they have two results, and we always encourage them to bring it so we can confirm their authenticity.”

Oloyede sympathised with the father of the candidate, Honn Garen Kokowa, who wrote a letter appealing to JAMB to correct the anomaly so his son can access NDA portal and complete his admission application.

Part of the letter reads: “Your inability for swift response to address the issue has led to my son’s forfeiture of his NDA admission opportunity. However, I am craving for your indulgence to quickly rectify the result in affirmative to enable him have a good stand for his second choice institution.”

The accused however narrated his story, “The alleged fraudsters sent me a mail that they can help me upgrade my scores. I replied them with my registration number and my email and asked them to prove it.

“Later when the result was out, I checked and it was 206. Later he called me that he has upgraded it and I should pay him his N10, 000. I said I don’t have that kind of money to pay him and he threatened to make things difficult for me.

“My coming here was to check the JAMB records if my score is really 162 or 206 and to also know if the guy was right, only to discover it was fraud.”