The management of Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), Anyigba, Kogi State, has sanctioned a lecturer for allegedly aiding and abetting examination malpractice and expelled six students found involved in the misconduct.
 
The university also approved the withdrawal of nine other students over poor academic performance and failure to comply with registration requirements.
 
The decisions were contained in a statement issued by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Uredo Omale.
   
Omale said the six expelled students were caught rewriting an examination at the private residence of the lecturer, Dr Maji Okpanachi, days after the original examination had been conducted.
 
According to her, the matter followed a security report that was referred to the Examination Misconduct Committee for investigation. The committee’s report was subsequently considered by the Senate at its 167th Regular Meeting held on August 26, 2026.
 
She said the committee confirmed the security report through confessional statements from the lecturer and the students involved, as well as other available records.

“The committee report further confirmed the security report as well as the confessional statements by the lecturer and the students involved and other available records, that some students re-wrote the examination at the lecturer’s residence, days after the examination was written,” Omale said.

She added that the investigation established that the affected students paid N10,000 each to the lecturer to rewrite BOT102, Introduction to Plant Science, at his residence.

The Senate also approved the referral of Okpanachi to the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee for appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the university’s rules and regulations.

Similarly, the Senate approved the withdrawal of nine students on grounds of poor academic performance and failure to comply with registration requirements.
 
Reacting to the decisions, the Vice-Chancellor and Chairman of Senate, Prof Salisu Ogbo Usman, reaffirmed the university’s commitment to maintaining high standards of academic excellence, discipline, integrity, patriotism and quality assurance.
 
He said the university would not tolerate any act capable of undermining the credibility and integrity of its academic and examination processes.

Usman commended the committees involved in the investigation for what he described as thorough and painstaking work, saying the outcome demonstrated the university’s determination to strengthen accountability and protect the integrity of its academic system.
   
He urged staff and students to uphold academic discipline and ethical conduct and comply with the university’s examination and other academic regulations.
 
The affected students were also directed to surrender all university property in their possession, including identity cards and other official items, to the appropriate authorities before leaving the institution.