The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has called for the immediate suspension of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, over what it described as the “mishandling” of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
This follows widespread complaints and controversy surrounding technical errors that allegedly compromised the integrity of the UTME results released earlier this month.
In a strongly worded statement signed by the President General of the group, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, Ohanaeze expressed dissatisfaction with the explanation offered by JAMB, blaming it on failure by service providers to update servers.
“Our people all over the world are not satisfied with the peripheral reasons and tangential justifications given by JAMB in this circumstance,” Azuta-Mbata said. “This portends not only an attempt to jeopardize the future of our children, but is equally a calculated attempt to vitiate the backbone of the zone which is anchored on education.”
He recalled a press briefing by the JAMB Registrar, where Prof. Oloyede had cited “the inability of their service provider to update some of the delivery servers when patch errors were detected in some centres” as the root of the problem.
Rejecting the explanation, Ohanaeze said the incident had caused “avoidable anguish, pressure, anxiety and tremendous trauma” for students and their families.
“We implore the Federal Government to set up a commission of enquiry to determine the immediate and remote causes of this menace. It is only by so doing that patriotic Nigerians, especially the victims and their families, shall have sustainable relief,” the statement read.
The organization also used the opportunity to reiterate its long-standing concern over the alleged marginalization of Igbo students under Nigeria’s quota-based admission policy.
“Ndigbo over the years have been treated unfairly under the quota system, whereby our young people under arbitrary standards have to attain higher cut-off marks for university admission,” Azuta-Mbata said.
“In spite of these hurdles, our people are expected to compete in the same job market with the so-called educationally disadvantaged.”
Ohanaeze insisted that the recurring challenges in Nigeria’s educational system lend further credibility to its longstanding call for restructuring, allowing each region to develop at its own pace and according to its strengths.
The group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene decisively and address what it termed the growing grievances of the Igbo people.
“Nigerians must know the truth and we must all rise together to say never again will our students and parents be allowed to suffer this injustice, irrespective of any part of the country they may come from,” Azuta-Mbata declared.
“We must protect our youth who are our today and our future.”
He urged the Tinubu administration to take “proactive steps” toward building a more equitable society that guarantees fairness and justice to all ethnic groups in the country.
