Five Times JAMB Caught Candidates Who Falsified Their UTME Results

1. In 2021, a UTME candidate, Ifesinachi John, 19, claimed he scored 380 in the UTME, but the result checker kept showing 265. Master John and his father, John Ifenkpam, accused JAMB of altering his result. The father, therefore, petitioned the examination body through his lawyer, demanding N1 billion damages and that his son be allowed to retake the test. The candidate claimed that his UTME scores from 2019 till 2021 had been “altered” by JAMB, denying him the opportunity to study his desired course – Medicine, ThisDay reported. It was later found that the candidate saved his sister’s phone number with 55019 –the shortcode that automatically sends UTME results to candidates’ phone numbers when requested. The candidate later confessed and pleaded for mercy. However, JAMB handed him to the police for investigation.

2. Also in 2019, a UTME candidate, Kingsley Unekwe, 18, confessed to upgrading his UTME score from 201 to 269 during the hearing of a panel set up by JAMB to probe the cases of what many called ‘double results’. JAMB had informed the public at the time that many candidates had forged their results and inflated their scores through the activities of scammers but insisted that what they were parading were fake results.

3. In the same year, JAMB arrested a 19-year-old candidate, Adah Eche, for allegedly upgrading his UTME scores from 153 to 290. The candidate was said to have patronised some individuals on social media who claimed to “upgrade candidates’ scores.” The details of the fraudulent practice were eventually traced to and found on Master Eche’s mobile telephone. Meanwhile, after getting his scores inflated, the candidate wrote a letter to JAMB, accusing it of making a mistake in the scores earlier released. Upon investigation, details of the fraudulent transaction were found on the candidate’s phone. Other details found on his phone were of him encouraging other candidates who scored below the cut-off marks to upgrade theirs as well in order for them to gain admission.

4. In the same year, JAMB accused another candidate, Cletus Kokowa, of inflating his result from 162 to 206 after paying the sum of N10,000 to a syndicate.

5. Another candidate, Rejoice Mordi, 19, was accused of altering her score from 164 to 264. Miss Mordi told JAMB’s panel that she got the fake results from an agent identified as Iyanu Oluwa through WhatsApp.