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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A candidate for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), Suleiman Aminat Yahaya, who called out the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on the social media for allegedly asking her to travel to Abuja from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to sit for the Computer Based Test (CBT), has apologised to JAMB and Nigerians for disinformation she dished out to Nigeria and the world.
She tendered the unreserved apology in Ibadan yesterday when the Director of Protocols and Public Relations Officer of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, confronted her with the facts that she registered for the examinations in Abuja and she did not inform the board that she had relocated to Ibadan.
In the same vein, a social media influencer, Saheed Oladele, who prepared the girl for the social media attack on JAMB has also apologised to JAMB for the misinformation that she spread, saying he based his decision on the information supplied to him by the female candidate.
The duo apologised to JAMB after she and other candidates that had one issue or the other sat for the rescheduled examination in Ibadan.
Suleiman Aminat Yahaya, in her form applied for Islamic Studies at the University of Abuja as her first choice. According to her, she was based in Abuja before she relocated to Ibadan. She added that she did not inform JAMB that she had relocated to Ibadan.
Recounting his role in incident, Oladele said: “When the matter of this girl was reported to me that she first wrote UTME in Abuja and she was rescheduled to write again. Then, she got another message to write in Abuja. I felt concerned as she is too young to be going through such stress. So, I went to the public as the quickest way to reach our leaders in Nigeria.
“I did a video to let them know what she was going through for JAMB to do something. After doing that, to God be the glory, JAMB has been very proactive on this matter and it has proved that it’s a responsible organisation. Today, I am happy to tell you that this girl has just written her JAMB exam, which is the major achievement I am after. I want to use this medium to specially thank JAMB for allowing this girl to write exam without having to go to Abuja.”
“Truly, there was a mix up. She did not write the exam twice in Abuja. She wrote it once but the second time she went to the centre because her elder sister that was receiving her messages was also receiving for the other sister because they are two. So, when the message came, it was an anonymous message. They didn’t know the owner of the message and two of them went to the centre. The other girl was allowed in but she wasn’t allowed to enter the exam hall.
“I want to clarify that she had only written the exam twice not the third time. Having clarified this, I would like to say that some people have taken undue advantage to abuse JAMB because of this development. I want to also use this medium to enjoin every Nigerian to let us be positive about our leaders. I appreciate JAMB so much, which I mentioned in some parts of the video. Number one, I appreciate JAMB for 100 per cent digitization. What JAMB has achieved, many universities in Nigeria need to learn from JAMB because nobody is doing paper based test in JAMB again.
“I am apologising to JAMB on behalf of this girl for any form of misinformation or miscommunication of whatever might have happened. I relied on the candidate, based on the communication between this candidate and JAMB.”
The Director of Protocols and Public Relations Officer of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, appealed to Nigerians that they should “always verify information and not take things hook line and sinker. There is no way that a candidate would have filled Ibadan for his/her centre and we place him/her in Abuja. There is no way this candidate would have been placed to write her exam repeatedly. I came all the way from Abuja to Ibadan for Nigerians to know that this is not us (JAMB).”
