UTME: Ohanaeze rejects resit, demands 300 scores for Southeast candidates

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, on Thursday, rejected the decision by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to schedule a fresh examination for candidates affected by what it termed “errors” in the recently released Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.

JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, had on Wednesday admitted that technical errors led to unusually low scores for candidates in the five South-East states and Lagos State, and announced that the Board had commenced arrangements to reschedule the exam for the affected candidates.
Reacting in a statement, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, described the decision as “totally unacceptable.”

The group also demanded that 300 scores be awarded to all affected candidates from the South-East.

Okwu said it was a disservice for JAMB to subject the candidates to “another round of mental torture, stress, and risk” for no fault of theirs.
Okwu said: “We want to state unequivocally that our people will not accept any fresh examination, having already been subjected to mental torture by JAMB.

“The candidates are not in the right frame of mind to undergo another examination, having been faced with mental torture ever since the fake results were announced.

“Besides, who is going to bear the cost? The same parents who are facing severe financial challenges? What of the risk of moving to the examination locations, in a country ravaged by insecurity?”

He warned that should JAMB fail to meet their demands, the group would take legal action against the Board.

He added, “Having said this, we demand that JAMB should allocate a 300 score to all the South-East candidates affected by its own error, not that of the candidates. Igbos are very brilliant people and could have made 300 and above.

“It was a deliberate design to punish the people of the South-East, clearly to deny them education opportunities.
“Should JAMB fail to heed our request, we shall not hesitate to drag them to court; no form of crocodile tears by the Registrar will save the Board.”