By Chris Steven, Abuja
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has withdrawn the result of one Attama Lawrence Ikedichukwu for acts bordering on impersonation in the just-concluded 2021/2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Investigations revealed that Lawrence had hired a professional examination taker to sit the examination on his behalf. However, his luck ran out when the Board’s post-examination processes discovered that the candidate had been impersonated in the course of the examination, a statement by Dr Fabian Benjamin, spokesperson of JAMB said on Tuesday.
Benjamin stated that further scrutiny had revealed other hidden dimensions to the case which the candidate had admitted to in the course of perpetrating the fraudulent act.
“Following Management’s consideration and approval of the recommendations of the investigators, the result of Mr Attama Lawrence Ikedichukwu, whose examination was taken on his behalf at the University of Nigeria, MTN Library, Nsukka, Enugu State, on Tuesday, 22nd June 2021, during the second session of the examination for that day, has been withdrawn.”
According to the statement, the Board reiterated that no result obtained through fraudulent means would be allowed to stand.
It noted that the cancellation was in line with the Board’s policy of cancelling any result fraudulently obtained by any candidate even when such had been released.
The perpetrator, the statement emphasised would be handed over to relevant agencies for prosecution to serve as a deterrent to other would-be infractors.
“The Board wishes to remind candidates and the general public that it would painstakingly scrutinise the entire examination processes with the proviso that the results obtained through fraudulent means would be withheld and after a thorough investigation, cancelled as the case may be.”
The statement further disclosed that the Board was engaged in the viewing and assessment of all CCTV footages of the examination as well as the adequacy or otherwise of the security measures put in place to forestall examination infractions.
It warned that Lawrence Ikedichukwu’s case might just be the first of the many that would be unearthed in the course of the review as many more infractions might yet come to light.
“Already, a top security officer who had facilitated the forgery of the Board’s admission letter is being investigated for possible culpability and subsequent prosecution.”
