Jide Julius, a man claiming to be a professor, has been arrested on allegation of exam malpractice during the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The suspect was arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), after he was caught assisting his daughter during the ongoing UTME in one of the computer-based test (CBT) centres at Brix Academy, Jabi, Abuja.
During interrogation, Julius alleged that he was one of the professors selected by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to oversee the conduct of the 2019 UTME.
It was gathered that upon his arrest, Julius claimed to be a professor and also the owner of a non-governmental organisation.
It is believed that he was detained and would be prosecuted at the end of investigation.
Meanwhile, the exam body has vowed to investigate reported cases of some candidates, who were unable to undertake the biometric verification process during the ongoing exam, which commenced on Thursday.
“We will look at the cases brought before us to know if they are actual challenges or part of malpractice,” said Fabian Benjamin, the board’s head of media and publicity, in a statement on Friday.
“This is because we discovered that some candidates have done something, they intend to take advantage of the biometric verification challenge as an excuse, so we need to ascertain the genuineness of these cases.
“I assure you we are looking at it and would do something.”
Benjamin’s statement is coming on the back of outcry by some candidates that they could not be verified through the biometric process, either at the beginning or end of the exercise.
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