UTME Candidate Apologies To JAMB Over False Claim

By Lateef Taiwo

A candidate, Miss Aminat Suleiman Yahaya, who was featured in a widely-circulated video on tiktok and other social media platforms, alleging that she was rescheduled repeatedly to sit the Board’s 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME) in Abuja, while staying in Ibadan, has apologized to the Board for misleading the public and attempting to embarrass the Board.

The public apology was given at a press conference in Ibadan in the presence of a social media influencer, Mr. Saheed Oladele, who created the widely-circulated video.

A press statement signed by JAMB’s Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, disclosed that at the press conference, Yahaya had apologized for the embarrassment she had caused the Board stating that she and her sister had their SIM cards in one phone and, as such, received messages sent to both of them.

She disclosed that when her sister was invited for her examination, she had followed her to the centre in Abuja but she was not allowed to sit the examination as she was not invited.

Yahaya admitted that she was never invited to retake any examination other than that first time. She also stated that she had registered to sit the examination in Abuja and not Ibadan as erroneously been put out in the public.

Earlier, Oladele had apologized and explained that he made the widely-circulated video based on the distorted information made available to him and tendered his unreserved apology as, according to him, he holds the Board in high esteem.

Benjamin at the press conference appealed to bloggers and other media influencers to always check out their stories before going public.

“If Mr. Oladele had sought our own side of the story, he would have got the true position of the story,” he said.

He cautioned the public against believing stories being shared online hook, line and sinker, while stating that the Board would not shy away from admitting its faults where necessary especially within the conduct of the Board’s UTME by doing the needful such as rescheduling candidates to retake their examination where it had failed.