By Halimah Olamide
The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has said that a candidate, Miss Aminat Suleiman Yahaya, accused the Board of forcing her to come to Abuja to write her examination repeatedly has apologised to the board for allegedly creating wrong impressions.
JAMB also said a blogger, Saheed Oladele, who recorded a video of the candidate and made it viral on social media has equally pleaded for forgiveness saying he too was misled.
A statement by Dr. Benjamin Fabian, Head of Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB, said the public apology was given at a press conference in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
Miss Yahaya, according to Fabian, 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.
“She 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,” the statement revealed.
It said that 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.
“He added that whatever he did was not to tarnish the image of the Board but to draw its attention to the challenges purportedly being faced by the candidate. He declared his undying respect for the Board for its prompt response to the issue raised.
“He confirmed that the candidate was never rescheduled for any examination other than the one she had taken in Ibadan adding that the insinuation that the candidate was compelled to travel to Abuja is unfortunate and was never intended to be so.
“According to him, what actually happened was that the candidate registered for the UTME in Abuja and had consequently picked Abuja as her examination town but had, in the interval, relocated to Ibadan, a situation which he said could not be attributed to the Board. He said he later discovered that the candidate had a sister, who also sat the UTME in Abuja, and both of them had their SIMs in one phone, which was part of the factors that caused the confusion.”
Recall that the video, which had gone viral showed Miss Aminat Suleiman Yahaya crying that after sitting her UTME in Abuja and going back to her base in Ibadan, the Board had rescheduled her to take the examination in Abuja. She alleged after that she was again sent a message rescheduling her for another examination in Abuja.
Fabian’s statement said the video came to the attention of the Board forcing it to order an investigation.
“If Mr. Oladele had sought our own side of the story, he would have got the true position of the story” the statement said.