NSCDC nabs 3 illegal UTME registration centre operators in Ekiti

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ekiti State command, has paraded three persons for allegedly duping unsuspecting Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates by operating fake registration centres for the examination.

The suspects, Mr Tope Fagade, 29; Mr Adeniyi Akindun, 34 and Mr Patrick Duduyemi, 35, were arrested and paraded on Wednesday by the NSCDC, following a tip-off, for allegedly operating fake registration centres.

The Commandant of the NSCDC in Ekiti State, Mr Don Ikemefuna, said, while briefing newsmen in Ado Ekiti, a sting operation carried out on some cyber cafes in Ado Ekiti led to their arrest. The suspects specialise in printing, selling, manipulating and forging of UTME registration forms and admission letters, as well as manipulation UTME registration numbers, he added.

Ikemefuna said: “These people want to reap where they did not sow. Some victims paid as much as N46,000. These people who don’t want JAMB to succeed will be brought to book.”

The Ekiti NSCDC boss urged prospective candidates and their parents “to be wary of the activities of the fraudsters operating a cyber cafe”.

The JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties of the examination body, Mr. Olujide Adisa, decried the activities of the alleged fraudsters and expressed the determination of the body to legally pursue the matter to a logical conclusion.

Oloyede announced on the occasion that UTME forms had yet to be on sale, noting that “the arrested suspects took advantage of the September-February sales period of JAMB forms to defraud people when the form had yet to come out.”

He said: “Our message is that JAMB form is not yet out. When the forms are out we will advertise it, we will also state the centres that are eligible to register candidates and the mode of registration.”