Candidates protest inability to register their 2017 JAMB

Prospective candidates for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination, on Thursday protested in Makurdi, Benue State over their inability to register.

They blocked some major roads in the city, as they marched to JAMB’s office located along Inner Ring Road. The candidates also took their complaints to the Governor’s Office at Benue People’s House.

The protesters threw stones at the JAMB office before mobile policemen dispersed them.

According to The Guardian, the candidates claimed they were unable to process their registration at the Computer Based Test centres (CBTs), due to insufficient facilities.

They urged the Federal Government to revert to the old system of registration.

The State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Dennis Ityavyar, who addressed them at the Government House, also pleaded with the JAMB Registrar, to open more centres to enable them to register for the examination.

It is understood that it takes three to seven days for a candidate to be fully registered, depending on the efficiency of the Internet connection.

JAMB Director of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, in a statement insisted that the board “would continue all its examinations with the CBT mode, as it was already consolidating on the gains earlier 

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Suspects allegedly impersonating Tinubu, Saraki with fake sim cards arrested in Kaduna [Photos]

A four man syndicate who specializes in defrauding foreigners using the names of high profile politicians in the country has been arrested by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team.

The suspects operated by registering sim cards with the names of high profile personalities such as chief of staff to the President, Chief Bola Tinubu, Senate President, Bukola Saraki in the country and used them to defraud people of millions of Naira.

Fourteen different phones, all with SIM cards registered with the names of top government officials and several extra registered sim cards were recovered from their possession upon arrest.

They confessed to have made over N20 million from the operation within the last six months.

A police source told journalists they were arrested following series of complaints filed against them.

“Following the series of complaints received by the IGP on the activities of some notorious criminals, who posed as Chief of Staff to President, NSA, Minister of Petroleum, minister of Finance, Chief Bola Tinubu, Senate President and others, the IGP, Ibrahim Idris, directed the Intelligence Response Team to trace and Arrest the Criminals.

“After three days of unrelenting follow up and technical intelligence support from TIU, the four-man syndicate led by one High Chief Ovie Ogogo, 47, who impersonates prominent citizens from the South South and SouthEast; Abdulazeez Eragbe, 40, who impersonates prominent citizens from the North; Babatunde Oshamoto, 49, who impersonates prominent persons from the South West and North Central and Samuel Idah, 25, who supplies them with sim cards registered with the names of the prominent citizens were all arrested in a luxury hotel in Kaduna State by IRT.”

The police added that all the suspects had confessed to the crime.

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Buhari set to return to UK for follow-up treatment

President Muhammadu Buhari is set to return to the United Kingdom for follow-up treatment.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu disclosed this to Daily Trust on Thursday.

Shehu was asked about reports claiming that Buhari had decided to bring in the doctors, rather than return to the UK.

He described the story as false and insisted his principal had not changed his plans.

It would be recalled that President Buhari returned from a 50-day medical vacation in London on March 10.
On his arrival at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja that time, he said he was “much better now. All I will need is to do further follow-ups within some weeks.”

A professor of medicine, Femi Williams, categorically stated that President Buhari is suffering from anaemia.

“We now have a pretty good idea of diagnosis, which is now comprehensive or good enough to say that the diagnosis of President Buhari’s illness is anaemia,” Williams said.Williams, who is a certified physician in Anatomic Pathology from London and Ireland, told The Nation in an interview, that it is the reason why The President got blood transfusion during his medical vacation in the UK.

“You cannot be transfused if you don’t have anaemia.”

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ABU VC should have rejected Senate’s invitation over Dino Melaye’s academic status – CACOL

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has said the Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Prof Ibrahim Garba, should have rejected the invitation made to him by the Senate to appear before its committee to prove the academic status of Senator Dino Melaye.

According to the group, “Garba’s appearance exposed the level of rot in our education system and corroborates the school of thought which says that many of our institutions have commoditized certification which is responsible for the qualities of graduates that are churned out periodically.”

The group said Melaye’s certificate forgery allegations put him on the same scale as Senate President, Bukola Saraki, whom it had hitherto rated low morally.CACOL stated this in a statement signed and issued by its Executive Chairman‎, Debo Adeniran, on Thursday.

While describing Melaye’s reaction to the confirmation of his graduate status by ABU VC as ‘tomfoolery’, CACOL said it portrayed lack of self-confidence in his inherent abilities and the false need to parade himself as what one is not.

The group noted that Melaye’s certificate saga only showed that in Nigeria, as a country, it was wrong to predicate the election of persons on certificates over meritocracy.

“The saga has also shown that, as country, it is wrong to predicate the election of persons on certificates over meritocracy. This is one of the fundamental things that lead desperate politicians to forge certificates because of their aspirations. Certificates have never proven to be the best test of ability when it comes to leadership, so as a country, we seem to have gotten it wrong from the beginning.The statement reads: “Dino’s certificate saga has further exposed the level of rot in our education system given the drama where a Vice Chancellor had to join the trago-comedy of the Senate by appearing in a session to proof the academic status of a former student. It corroborates the school of thought which says that many of our institutions have commoditized certification which is responsible for the qualities of graduates that are churned out periodically.

“As for Dino Melaye and his trending disgusting show of shame over the certificate forgery allegations, it is clear that he belongs to the same box with Saraki on the scales of integrity, self-esteem, self-respect and morality.

“The facts that are already in public domain on his academic qualifications from different institutions including the prestigious Harvard Law School, in New York, London School of Economics and Nigerian institutions are glaringly in sharp contradictions with Dino Melaye’s claims.

“It shows lack of self-confidence in one’s inherent abilities and the false need to parade oneself as what one is not. It is moral bankruptcy. An honest person would not lie about educational qualifications no matter what. To even know that the constitution does not compel anybody to have a degree before being eligible to contest for elective positions and some people still prefer to forge certificates speaks volumes about the character of whoever commits such acts.“His reactions so far has been nothing sensible, they only betray boldly the extent of tomfoolery a so-called Senator of the Federal Republic can engage in, particularly when a matter of honour is in question!

“No one needs not to be told that anyone capable of forging a certificate to get to office is extremely likely to perpetrate corruption if elected into office. This is one of what is responsible for the rampant corrupt and sharp practices we witness in the public and elected offices on daily basis.”

“It is important to point out too that, a country that cannot guarantee free education for its populace lacks the moral basis or right to deny the people of access to leadership because position they do not possess certificates; it is unjust and it represents exclusivity. And the truth is that there are a lot of Nigerians who qualify to be in leadership positions over many who have the best of certificates. In fact, the certificated ones seem to have performed more brilliantly in terms of the perpetration of corruption.”

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