Gunmen have abducted passengers, including candidates of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination being conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, along the Makurdi-Otukpo Road in Benue State.

The victims were said to be travelling in a Benue Links bus from Makurdi to Otukpo when the vehicle was attacked on Wednesday night.

A source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the incident, said the bus, which was conveying about 18 passengers, was intercepted near Otukpo around 8 p.m. by suspected bandits who took most of the occupants into the bush.

According to the source, the passengers were mainly young persons heading to Otukpo to sit for the JAMB examination scheduled for yesterday.

“Two people, the driver and one passenger, managed to escape. Incidentally, the passengers were mainly young men and women who travelled to sit for the JAMB examination scheduled for today (Thursday),” he said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ifeanyi Emenari, said 14 passengers were abducted, adding that one victim escaped.

Emenari said he was in Otukpo coordinating the rescue operation, adding that the command had commenced an investigation into the incident, particularly the circumstances surrounding the journey.

According to him, the Benue Links management has a policy against night travel, but the driver allegedly picked up passengers after official hours.

“But as we are investigating, we are on the ground to make sure that the victims are rescued,” the CP said.

The Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Area, Maxwell Ogiri, also confirmed the incident, saying security operatives had been deployed to the area.

IN another development, The Guardian reports that while the examination proceeded seamlessly in some centres, others encountered technical difficulties.

The situation triggered a wave of accusations between the CBT centre operators and officials of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), with each side attempting to shift responsibility for the disruptions.

While some centre administrators attributed the glitches to issues with the examination platform and delayed question uploads from JAMB, the board’s representatives insisted that the problems stemmed from inadequate infrastructure and poor maintenance of equipment at the centres.

At the CBT centre at Skillpath International Academy in Karu, Abuja, where 4,000 out of the 2.2 million candidates were expected to write the exam, candidates were seated as early as 8 a.m. Still, several complained about malfunctioning desktops, mice, and keyboards.

Although the first session was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., candidates faced a delay of about 15 minutes, as the examination questions did not appear on their computer screens until approximately 8:45 a.m.

A CBT technician identified simply as Nonso blamed JAMB for the delayed start of the examination, lamenting that such setbacks could unsettle candidates.

He added that a similar situation occurred during the mock examination.

In her reaction, the JAMB General Monitor Group Representative, Nnenna Akajemeli, blamed the management of the centre for failing to ensure that all systems were fully functional before the commencement of the examination.

She stressed that accredited centres were expected to meet strict operational standards, warning that such lapses could attract sanctions from the board.