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An evicted contestant in the ongoing reality TV show, BBNaija ‘Double Wahala’, Iheme Faith Uloma, popularly known as Ifu Ennada, says she was raped and infected with a Sexual Transmitted Infection.
Ifu Ennada, who is also an actress, content producer, TV host and fitness entrepreneur took to her instagram handle, @ifuennada on Tuesday to make the revelation citing an unnamed personality in the entertainment industry as the rapist.
The BBNaija contestant said that she has already documented her ordeal in her latest short story film titled, `Tears of A Broken Virgin.’
The fashion designer and graduate of Computer Science from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun added that people interpreted that she was claiming to be a Virgin.According to her, during her stay in the BBNaija House when emotions were raised during a `Truth or Dare game,’ she affirmed that she had not really had sex.
“The truth is in 2016, I was raped by someone in the entertainment industry, before then I was a Virgin. This person also infected me with an STI.
“ I was also threatened by this person and was very scared of social media’s bashing with the usual questions of “what was she wearing!’’ “why did she go to his house ?’’
“So in all my sadness and depression, I decided to tell the world what had happened to me using film as a medium.
“I was inspired to write and produce my film `Tears of A Broken Virgin’. I got a lot of help from social media.
“People volunteered to work for me free including my director – Benny Atagame Alli.
“Though some parts of my film are fiction, the bulk of it was inspired by my story. The lead character’s name is Ada which is a short form of my name Adanne- popularly pronounced as Ennada.
“I wanted to tell my story and also pass a strong message to rape victims and rapists…I hope I was able to do that with my film.“Because of my sad experience I battled depression, developed trust issues and found it hard to connect with people especially men.
“I intend to expand this into a feature-length film. I hope everyone out there is inspired to stand up against rape,’’ Ifu wrote.
As pairs in the BBNaija house, Ifu and Leo won the `Roc Da Mat’ Challenge which earned them VVIP trip to One Africa Festival in London later in the year.
In addition, they were awarded five million naira (N2.5 million each) and one year supply of Pepsi.
They were the fourth pair to be evicted in the 2018 BBNaija reality TV show.
Their eviction came after Ahneeka and Angel were evicted, and two weeks after Bitto and Princess and Vandora and Dee-one were evicted.
Ifu described her 43 days stay in the BBNaija house as `eventful.
Zambia’s parliament suspended a cabinet minister on Tuesday from its proceedings for one month for slapping a fellow lawmaker within parliament grounds.
Verbal abuse is common among members of parliament in Zambia but physical assault is rare.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Patrick Matibini, said Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo was suspended for slapping outspoken lawmaker Chishimba Kambwili in October 2017.
Kambwili complained after the incident that Lusambo had slapped him twice after accusing Kambwili of making false accusations against the government.Kambwili has repeatedly accused government officials of corruption since his dismissal as information and broadcasting minister in November 2016 but the state denies the allegations.
Matibini said Lusambo was banned from entering parliament grounds and using its facilities during the period of suspension and would not be entitled to any allowances.
Three people, including the assailant, were critically injured in a shooting at a high school in the eastern US state of Maryland on Tuesday, officials said, just days before a nationwide student-organized march against school violence.
The shooting occurred shortly after 8:00 am (1200 GMT) at Great Mills High School, located about a 90-minute drive southeast of the US capital Washington.
“A single shooter fired a round at a female victim just at the beginning of the school hours this morning,” St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron told the MSNBC television network.
He said a female student was in critical condition and a “young man” was in critical but stable condition. All three were taken to area hospitals for treatment.The sheriff said the shooter was “engaged” by the “school resource officer” responsible for security and was critically wounded.
Police cars and emergency vehicles with flashing lights could be seen surrounding the school.
“It happened really quickly, right after school started,” Jonathan Freese, a Great Mills student, told CNN.
“The police came and responded really quickly,” Freese said. “They had a lot of officers respond.”
Students were evacuated to a nearby high school.
Mollie Davis, who identified herself on Twitter as a student at Great Mills, posted a series of tweets about the shooting.
“Now my school is the target,” she said. “WHY DO WE LET THIS KEEP HAPPENING??? I’m so tired, I’m so tired.”
– ‘Together, we can stop this’ –“You never think it’ll be your school and then it is,” Davis said. “Great Mills is a wonderful school and somewhere I am proud to go. Why us?”
The Great Mills incident comes about five weeks after a shooting at a Florida high school left 14 students and three adult staff members dead.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School launched a grassroots campaign for gun control following the shooting.
They have organized an event on Saturday called “March For Our Lives,” which is expected to turn out large crowds in US cities, with the main event in Washington.
Emma Gonzalez, a Stoneman Douglas student, tweeted her support Tuesday for her peers at Great Mills.
“We are Here for you, students of Great Mills,” Gonzalez said. “Together we can stop this from ever happening again.”
Under the banner #ENOUGH, tens of thousands of US high school students walked out of classrooms around the country on March 14 to protest gun violence.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan pledged to provide assistance.
“Our prayers are with students, school personnel and first responders,” Hogan said in a tweet.
Youths of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state on Monday disclosed that they have compiled petitions which they intend to submit to President Muhammadu Buhari during his forthcoming visit to the state.
The youths noted that their complaints if attended to by Buhari would improve the security of the state.
The group also called on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, not to allow Governor Nyesom Wike to inaugurate the officials of the Neighbourhood Watch Corps, adding that the formation of the security body runs fowl of the law.
The leader of the group, Chimidi Owhorji said: “When the president visits the state, we will officially forward our petitions and complaints about the state to him. We know that when he comes he will take a closer assessment of the security structure in the state and to improve it.
“He loves the people of Rivers State that is why he has brought meaningful projects in the state. So, we are earnestly and anxiously waiting to receive you, Mr. President. Rivers people want to tell you thank you in a big way for appointing their sons and daughters into privileged position in your government.
“They are ready to host you in big ways to tell you how they are being maltreated by the man who is supposed to be the Chief Security Officer of the state.
“We are calling on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, not to allow the state to inaugurate the Neighbourhood Watch Corps. He should do everything within his constitutional right to ensure that they do not operate.
Cristiano Ronaldo says the key to his staggering success is believing nobody is better than he is — and he advised his Portuguese teammates to adopt the same attitude.
The Real Madrid star made the comments as he accepted the Portuguese player of the year award in Lisbon.
“We should always believe we are the best,” said Ronaldo, who led Portugal to the Euro 2016 title and who is now turning his gaze to the 2018 World Cup.
“On a personal and collective level I have had a dream year. I won five trophies (Champions League, UEFA Supercup, World Club Cup, Spanish league title and the Spanish Supercup), the Ballon D’Or and the FIFA ‘Best’ title.”“You need to think big. I always believe that nobody is better than me, out on the pitch at least,” he said.
Ronaldo, who has been voted Ballon D’Or winner five times, is currently in Lisbon with the Portugal squad who play fellow World Cup qualifiers Egypt on Friday and the Netherlands three days later.
The 33-year-old has scored 79 goals in 147 games for Portugal and will lead the reigning European Champions to the 2018 World Cup, fitness permitting, where they will face Spain, Morocco and Iran in the first round.
Former Presidential New Media aide Reno Omokri has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari refusal to discipline the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, would set a very dangerous precedent.
During the president recent visit to Benue state, he was told that Idris disobeyed his order to relocate to the state.
The presidency, however, said the president queried the police boss for disobeying is order.
The Nigeria Police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, dismissed reports that Buhari queried Idris.
Reacting in a post on his Facebook page, Omokri noted that not disciplining the IGP would portray Buhari as weak.
He wrote: “This is not about PDP or APC. If the President does not publicly discipline the IGP, he will set a very dangerous precedent.
“All over barracks in Nigeria soldiers will be saying if a policeman can disobey the President, why should the military respect him. It‘s a bad omen not just for Buhari, but for our democracy.
“It will be taken that the President is a weak Commander-in-Chief who is dominated by his appointees instead of being in charge of his government and will lead to further insubordination by other military/paramilitary forces.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday said Nigeria has become too solid as a country for any force, calamity or misgovernance to destroy it.
Mr. Obasanjo, who spoke from Azerbaijan where he is chairing a meeting of the InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government, was responding to reports quoting him as saying Nigeria would collapse if President Muhammadu Buhari is reelected to office in 2019.
The reports claimed that the former president made the comment in a speech at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University, on Friday.
But Mr. Obasanjo vehemently denied making the comment, saying he had not even been to London since early January when he spoke on transformational leadership in Africa at Oxford University.
“I won’t and can’t say that (that Nigeria will collapse if Buhari is reelected),” the former president said. “There will be nothing that will make Nigeria collapse. When Nigeria did not collapse under a civil war, it won’t collapse now.
“My faith and conviction about Nigeria is so strong that I don’t see the country either being dismembered or collapsing.
“The worst has passed on Nigeria. Once we were able to survive the civil war, once we are able to survive (Sani) Abacha, nothing can be worst than those two. And our democracy is waxing strong. Although there are a few things we need to get right.
“As far I am concerned, the worst is over. What remains is for all of us and for our leadership to show good faith and commitment to do what is right. Then Nigeria will grow from strength to strength.”
When reminded of his recent criticism of the Buhari administration for misgovernance, corruption and ineptitude, Mr. Obasanjo said even those administrative weaknesses were not enough to wreck Nigeria.
“I regard those as aberrations and they will pass away,” the former President said. “Such aberrations will pass away with the regime that bring them.
“Don’t forget that Abacha did more than that. Of course Abacha’s regime was not a democracy, it was a military dictatorship. If we survived that, then we will survive any shenanigan against democracy. That’s the greatest advantage of democracy.”
Mr. Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria as a democratically elected president between 1999 and 2007, supported Mr. Buhari to become president in 2015.
But on January 23, the former president released a 13-page statement calling on Mr. Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019.
In a special press statement entitled, “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement” Mr. Obasanjo said Mr Buhari had performed far below expectation and should honourably “dismount from the horse” to join the league of the country’s former leaders whose “experience, influence, wisdom and outreach can be deployed on the side line for the good of the country.”
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, has declared that he will make public the monthly earnings of the leadership of the National Assembly soon.
He said the N13 million allowances being received by senators is only a tip of the iceberg as Nigerians will be shocked when he releases details of the allowances of the principal officers.
Sagay said this while fielding questions from Punch on the revelations by the lawmaker representing Kaduna-Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani.
Sani had disclosed that senators receive N700,000 monthly and a separate N13.5m as running costs.
The senior lawyer said, “There are many things the press doesn’t know yet. If you come to know the allowances that the leadership of the two houses are getting.
“My God! It will blow up the country. What is the Senate President getting? It is not the ordinary N13m.
“What does he get as Senate President? What is the leader of the House getting, what is the deputy leader of the House getting?
“What is the Deputy Senate President getting? What are the minority leaders getting in both houses? Go and find out. It is an explosive stuff, I tell you.
“Eventually, I will come out with the figures. I am working on them now. When I am ready, I will come out with them.”
He called out the pokesman for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, for saying that the N13.5m allowances were already in the public domain.
Sagay pointed out that it was hypocritical of the lawmakers to have berated him last year when he released details of their allowances.
He added that Sani’s revelation was at variance with the details released by Saraki last year.
He added, “What they released then was their salaries which the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for them. What they are hiding now are the allowances they voted for themselves.
“The salary details released was just about N700,000 but what they voted for themselves is about 20 times that amount. That is the whole point and they were hiding it.
“I came out with the figures last year and they wanted to cut off my neck and now it has come out in the open and Sabi Abdullahi is saying it is nothing new but you were denying it in the past. So, they have a guilty conscience because they know what they are doing is shameful.”
The Nigeria Police has reacted to report that President Muhammadu Buhari queried the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris for allegedly not obeying his order.
The police said claims by Presidency officials that Buhari had queried Idris as a result of the matter was false.
The Police boss met with President Buhari last week.
Recall that on his visit to Benue State early last week, President Buhari was told that the IGP flouted his order to relocate to the crisis-rocked state.
He was said to have spent one day in the state and jetted out to Nasarawa.
Speaking to ThisDay on the matter, Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, said,“The IGP was not queried.
“Anybody that said the IGP was queried by the president should bring the copy of the query, let us display it.
“There is very clear issue on that, that he was not queried by the President.”
Ride-sharing giant Uber said Monday it is suspending its self-driving car program after one of the vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in the US state of Arizona.
The Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode, with an operator behind the wheel, when it hit a woman walking in the street in the city of Tempe late Sunday, according to the San Francisco-based company.
The victim was hospitalized and later died from her injuries.
Uber has suspend use of self-driving cars it was testing or using in Tempe, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and San Francisco, according to the company.“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family,” an Uber spokesperson told AFP. “We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.”
Uber was only using autonomous vehicles as part of its regular passenger service in Pittsburgh and Tempe.
A vehicle operator in the driver’s seat was the only person in the Uber car when the fatal accident occurred, according to the company. The car was in police hands on Monday.
Sunday’s accident was the first fatal self-driving car crash involving a pedestrian.
The first deadly self-driving car accident was reported in mid-2016, and involved a Tesla.
– Slow car tech? –
The Tesla Model S, cruising on “Autopilot,” failed to detect a crossing tractor-trailer against a bright sky, killing the driver — who it later emerged had kept his hands off the wheel for extended periods of time despite automated warnings not to do so.
As with the fatal Tesla crash, the deadly Uber accident is likely to stoke concerns that the industry is moving too fast to deploy self-driving vehicles.It was a nightmare scenario for an industry promoting a way to improve road safety and reduce traffic fatalities that come mostly from human error.
Google-owned Waymo for years has been testing self-driving cars, racing against smartphone-summoned ride star Uber.
Waymo early this month began using its self-driving trucks to haul cargo bound for the internet giant’s data centers in Georgia.
Rival Uber made a similar announcement, saying it is using self-driving semi trucks as part of an on-demand trucking service in Arizona.
In September, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao released new guidelines that permit more testing of self-driving cars and address regulation between the federal government and states.
Autonomous-vehicle technology has been touted as having potential to save fuel, ease congestion, and make transportation safer.
Chao argued that self-driving technology could also improve mobility for the elderly, disabled and other restricted populations.
But the non-profit Consumer Watchdog has warned that roads are being turned “into private laboratories for robot cars with no regard for our safety.”
US states set their own rules for roads, and a handful have passed laws allowing self-driving vehicles.
California and Arizona have been particularly encouraging, hoping that companies developing autonomous technology in those states will create local jobs and facilities devoted to a promising new industry.
Ride-sharing giant Uber said Monday it is suspending its self-driving car program after one of the vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in the US state of Arizona.
The Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode, with an operator behind the wheel, when it hit a woman walking in the street in the city of Tempe late Sunday, according to the San Francisco-based company.
The victim was hospitalized and later died from her injuries.
Uber has suspend use of self-driving cars it was testing or using in Tempe, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and San Francisco, according to the company.“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family,” an Uber spokesperson told AFP. “We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.”
Uber was only using autonomous vehicles as part of its regular passenger service in Pittsburgh and Tempe.
A vehicle operator in the driver’s seat was the only person in the Uber car when the fatal accident occurred, according to the company. The car was in police hands on Monday.
Sunday’s accident was the first fatal self-driving car crash involving a pedestrian.
The first deadly self-driving car accident was reported in mid-2016, and involved a Tesla.
– Slow car tech? –
The Tesla Model S, cruising on “Autopilot,” failed to detect a crossing tractor-trailer against a bright sky, killing the driver — who it later emerged had kept his hands off the wheel for extended periods of time despite automated warnings not to do so.
As with the fatal Tesla crash, the deadly Uber accident is likely to stoke concerns that the industry is moving too fast to deploy self-driving vehicles.It was a nightmare scenario for an industry promoting a way to improve road safety and reduce traffic fatalities that come mostly from human error.
Google-owned Waymo for years has been testing self-driving cars, racing against smartphone-summoned ride star Uber.
Waymo early this month began using its self-driving trucks to haul cargo bound for the internet giant’s data centers in Georgia.
Rival Uber made a similar announcement, saying it is using self-driving semi trucks as part of an on-demand trucking service in Arizona.
In September, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao released new guidelines that permit more testing of self-driving cars and address regulation between the federal government and states.
Autonomous-vehicle technology has been touted as having potential to save fuel, ease congestion, and make transportation safer.
Chao argued that self-driving technology could also improve mobility for the elderly, disabled and other restricted populations.
But the non-profit Consumer Watchdog has warned that roads are being turned “into private laboratories for robot cars with no regard for our safety.”
US states set their own rules for roads, and a handful have passed laws allowing self-driving vehicles.
California and Arizona have been particularly encouraging, hoping that companies developing autonomous technology in those states will create local jobs and facilities devoted to a promising new industry.
Senator representing Kogi West in the Senate, Mr. Dino Melaye, who is challenging moves to recall him by his constituency, is in fresh trouble: the Police said they have filed a case in a Lokoja court accusing him and three other persons of illegal possession of firearms.
Police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, announced the move today in a statement.
The police took the action, following the confession of two alleged thugs who claimed to be working for Melaye.
One of the persons arrested was identified as 31-year-old Kabiru Saidu, a.k.a Osama. The other was Nuhu Salisu, who is 25 years old. The third person charged to court was identified as Muhammed Audu, a politician, who is said to currently be at large.“The men were arrested on January 19 at Ogojueje in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State after a shootout with the Police; and have confessed to being hired by Melayeto cause mayhem in the state,” Moshood said.
The police said they seized from the thugs and their gang members two AK-47 rifles, five pump action guns, two locally made pistols and heaps of charms.
According to the police, the men not only confessed to have been involved in several kidnappings in the state and environs, they also claimed to be hired thugs for politicians.
“According to the gang leader, Osama, he has been working as a political thug for one Alhaji Mohammed Audu, a politician in the state.
“He said Alhaji Mohammed Audu invited him to Abuja and introduced him to Senator Dino Melaye and they met on Airport Road, Abuja, inside Senator Dino Melaye’s car in the month of December, 2017.
“The suspect further confessed that Senator Dino Melaye told him that they should start working for the Senator as his political thugs and they should recruit and train more other (sic) thugs to work for him in preparation toward 2019 general election to enable him (Sen. Dino Melaye ) challenge his political opponents and disorganise Kogi State,” Moshood added.
The police said Osama further confessed that Melaye handed over a bag containing one AK-47 rifle, two pump action guns and N430,000.00 to share with his boys.
“A case of Criminal Conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms have therefore been filed by the Nigeria Police Force at Federal High Court Lokoja on 16th March, 2018 against the two suspects mentioned above, Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu who is also a suspect in the matter and is now on the run.“Consequent upon the indictments and criminal confessions against Senator Dino Melaye by the principal suspect, Kabiru Saidu a.k.a Osama, “31 years,” Nigeria Police Force wrote a letter dated 2nd of March, 2018 addressed to the Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, informing and requesting him to release Senator Dino Melaye to report to Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command on the 7th March, 2018 to answer to criminal offences leveled against him, to enable the Police carry out a discreet investigation into the confessions of the principal suspect against Senator Dino Melaye. But Senator Dino Melaye have refused to honour the Police invitation till date.
Viewers of the ongoing BBNaija ‘Double Wahala’ reality show, have taken to various social media platform to oppose the return of disqualified housemates.
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, host of the show announced on eviction night on Sunday that organisers of the show were giving Nigerians the opportunity to vote back two preferred evicted housemates, including those disqualified.
It should be recalled that Khloe and KBrule, the duo known as K-square earned three strikes as a pair, for flouting the rules of the house and were subsequently disqualified.
They perceive the move as ‘unfair’ and urge the organisers to cancel the strikes given to CeeC, Lolu, and Tobi if disqualified housemates are allowed to return.However, in this new twist introduced in the show, the disqualified housemates stand as much chance as others who were `honourably’ evicted through viewers’ votes, to return to the house.
@Adunimckinson tweeted, “I don’t have a problem with them bringing past housemates, but why bring back disqualified housemates? If Kbrule and Khloe are coming back to play for 45 million Naira, then revoke the strikes you gave CeeC and Lolu.”
@Chiradine wrote, “It will be unfair to bring back disqualified housemates without removing the strikes of other housemates. Please let’s play fair. Disqualified housemates should not be allowed to come back. ”
@Boo_berry3 tweeted, “If Big Brother can bring back disqualified housemates, and then he should take away Tobi, CeeC and Lolu’s strikes.”
However, some viewers are kicking against the entire idea of bringing evicted housemates back on the show, arguing that they have already been exposed to the game plan.
They added that evicted housemates will have upper hand as they already know what the viewers want, being outside the house.
Don Jazzy, popular Nigerian music producer, and owner of Mavin records wrote @DonJazzy, “Dear Big Brother, I don’t think this is a fair move.”
Meanwhile, the affected housemates are already intensifying their campaign for votes to return back to the BBNaija house including the disqualified duo of Khloe and KBrule.@Terrific tweeted, “Let me understand Biggie’s strategy. To bring back evicted housemates who have an idea of what the viewers want already? To compete alongside housemates without a clue? Highly unfair.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that one of the evicted contestants, Ifuennada has launched a hashtag #BringBackIfuEnnada #BringBackIfu to solicits votes from fans and viewers.
She wrote on her social media platforms @ ifuennada “Thanks for always supporting me. Now that Big Brother has given me an opportunity to return, I know you’d go all out for me. Much love!
“Guys we can do this please and please I take God beg una. Biko abeg I take God beg una, nothing like pride me I need that money,’’ Ifuennada stated.
The remaining nine housemates, CeeC, Lolu, Miracle, Tobi, Nina, BamBam, Teddy A, Alex and Rico Swavey continue to battle for prices worth 45 million Naira.
It was mixed reactions among candidates that sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, last week, when the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, partly released results of the examination.
While many candidates whose results were released are rejoicing, other candidates who were denied registration described the JAMB Registrar’s action as harsh.
Vanguard, while monitoring the UTME observed that unlike previous years where candidates’ results were released immediately they left the examination hall, in this case, the results were released three days after.
JAMB candidates
Our source disclosed that the decision of JAMB not to release the results immediately was to enable Board go through its CCTV and identify those involved in examination malpractice.
Meanwhile, a visit by Vanguard to Sururele and Lawanson approved JAMB Computer-Based Test, CBT centres in Lagos State, showed students expressing delight as they trooped out from examination halls.
Better than 2017
According to Chioma Igwe who wrote her examination at Knowledge Ware Technology Limited, one of the approved CBT centres in Lawanson, this year’s UTME was better in all ramifications compared to last year’s, owing to the fact that the servers were functional. For her, the questions were much easier and the officials were more coordinated.
Her words: “If JAMB last year was close to this year’s examination in terms of functionality of the servers; the questions set and the conducive environment, I wouldn’t have failed.
“ This year’s JAMB is a huge success as my centre started on time and all the servers were working and the environment conducive. I even finished my questions before the stop time,“ said an elated Igwe.
Corroborating Igwe’s claim of the exam being hitch-free, 17- year-old Joshua Abayomi also of the same centre said: “ I was more at peace writing today’s JAMB as everything was on point, despite the calculations I did as a science student.
According to him, from the questions, to the conducive environment, all was great. I want to believe that if JAMB had always been conducted this way, we would have no complaints provided we, the candidates, prepare adequately,” he stressed.
Also, at Reliance S&T Limited, one of the registered approved JAMB CBT centres at Surulere, it was a success story.
Mrs Adebambo who brought her daughter to the centre said her daughter came out happy as she was able to complete her exam without disruption of the server compared to last year’s.
“You can see my daughter, she is very happy to do this JAMB as this server worked well and the questions very easy,” added the joyous mother.
Reacting to the acclaimed success of this year’s JAMB, Mr James Owolabi, one of the coordinators at KnowledgeWare centre said success of the examination was due to the over all coordination of the JAMB authorities and the obedience to laid down rules and regulations by the centres.
Concerned parents
However, concerned parents whose children were denied the 2018 UTME registration because JAMB shut their portal early, lamented their wards’ denial to sit for the exams, adding that it would cost them another year.
Admission Analysis
Statistics show that in the 2017 UTME, a total of approximately 1,700,000 candidates took the exam, out of the 1,700,000 candidates, the combined admission capacity of all higher institutions in Nigeria could only admit approximately 700,000 candidates.
The above data implies that 1,000,000 candidates for the 2017 UTME were not admitted eventually.
Most of those candidates who scored above the JAMB stipulated admission cut-off of 120 were still hopeful of securing admission into one institution or the other up till January 25, when JAMB ordered all institutions to draw the curtain on their admission processes. Some institutions even went beyond that date, keeping some candidates hopeful beyond January 25.
The implication is that almost one million (1,000000) candidates only realised their hope of admission had been dashed by the last week in January.
This further implies that almost one million (1,000000) candidates who are still interested in tertiary education started rushing to get registered for the 2018 UTME by early February.
Barrister Moronfolu Adetunji, Mrs Adebowale Rukayat, Dr. Josephine Robert and Chief Emmanuel Eromosele in their reactions took a swipe at JAMB for closing its registration portal for the UTME 2018 on the 11th of February.
Adetunji said: ”Logically, about one million candidates had only 14 days to register for the examination. It would be the 8th or 9th wonder of the modern world if this can be achieved in Nigeria where UTME registration is restricted to only JAMB handpicked CBT centers that could not register 700,000 candidates in two months.
“It is then reasonable to say that so many aspiring candidates were denied the opportunity of registering as at the stipulated deadline. Their only sin is that they are Nigerians and they are therefore subjected to the whims and caprices of JAMB and its all-knowing and all-powerful registrar.
More pathetic is the case of those unfortunate candidates who by stroke of luck, were able to register before the deadline and were asked to get ready to take the exam by March 9, barely a month after realising they wouldn’t be admitted in the 2017 admission process. It is really a hell to be a Nigerian.
“Would they have been preparing to write another UTME in 2018 while still hoping to secure admission in the 2017 process? Is it then fair to subject them to another round of failure after collecting N6,200 from their impoverished parents?”
Reacting to the JAMB Registrar’s excuse, Dr Josephine Robert said: “Let us examine the excuse given by JAMB why it cannot postpone the exam:
They want admission processes to be concluded by August.
The question is “Is three months after UTME (June, July and August) not enough for the institutions to conclude admission processes, assuming UTME is written in May?
“Which other country of the world apart from Nigeria would candidates go blindly into the admission procedure? Why can’t institutions disclose their admission criteria even before registration for UTME in a given year so that candidates would know ab-initio whether to choose a particular school/course or not? Do we even know the institutions that would conduct post-UTME this year and those that wouldn’t? Why is it so difficult for JAMB to compel the schools to disclose their admission policies openly? Is it because JAMB is in cahoots with the tertiary institutions in fleecing the hapless candidates and their poor parents of their hard earned money? I pity the Nigerian candidates.
“Which other examination body forces candidates to pay heavily for every mistake made during registration, even before the deadline?
Why is JAMB alongside its registrar, bent on killing Nigerians financially on the altar of making money for government? Is JAMB now Nigerian Custom Service or Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)?
The Buhari administration is trying hard to put food on people’s table while JAMB is hell bent on taking the food away. It’s a shame that we can be this inconsiderate in this country.
“If we decide to stay silent on this mind-numbing issue simply because it doesn’t affect us today, who would cry for us and with us if it affects us tomorrow?”
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said it will release no fewer than 1.3 million results of candidates that sat for the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Monday (today) after they had gone through security checks and found to be without malpractice.
The JAMB Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, who stated this on Sunday in an interview, added that the UTME results of Computer-Based Test centres where the CCTV showed malpractices had been cancelled.
The board said the CCTV showed “strange things” such as CBT centre owners collecting money from candidates to engage in malpractices and also threatening JAMB officials at the centres.
The JAMB spokesman said, “We are presently viewing the CCTV to ensure that results are not released in several batches. On Monday, we will release over 1.3 million results. These are the results of the CBT centres that have been screened. We cannot say how many cases of malpractice we have yet, because we are still viewing the CCTV to discover more cases.
“Some strange findings that the CCTV has showed us include a situation where the CBT owners were collecting money from UTME candidates and seeing to how they could assist them. Our officials at the centres raised the alarm but they were also afraid so that their lives would not be endangered.
“What the JAMB officials did was to silently play along with them, but we were watching everything on the CCTV. We later sent operatives to the centres and caught them. Such UTME results were completely cancelled. We knew that there were some innocent candidates in such centres and we have asked them to go to other CBT centres and rewrite immediately.”
Benjamin said candidates whose fingers could not be captured during the biometric verification before the examination, would not be allowed to retake the examination, as the biometric verification had already disqualified them.
“We have also concluded all arrangements to do the UTME for blind candidates. The examination is taking place in five centres. These are Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Benin and Enugu. The candidates are writing on Monday (today),” he added.
The management of the University of Calabar on Monday said it has deployed security around and within the institution over the killing of two students by gunmen in a suspected renewed wave of cult clashes on campus.
Following the development, 11 suspected cultists have been arrested and handed over to the anti-cultism and kidnap unit of the Cross River State Police Command in Calabar.
The vice-chancellor further directed random stop-and-search of persons and vehicles at vulnerable points.Vice-Chancellor of UNICAL, Prof. Zana Akpagu, in a statement issued through the Registrar, Mr. Moses Abang, said police patrol teams have been stationed at the main gate of the institution, while the internal security team is stationed at other strategic parts of the campus.
Akpagu said, “The patrol exercise has paid off with the arrest of 11 suspected cultists who have been handed over to the anti-cultism and kidnapping unit of the Nigeria Police, Cross River State Command, for further interrogation.
“On March 16, 2018, gunmen launched attacks on one Oko Sylvester, also known as Davido, a final year student of the Department of Theatre, Film and Carnival Studies; and Wilson Ebina, a second year student of the Department of Education Science (Chemistry Education) in a violent manner that resulted in their deaths.
“Investigation revealed that prior to his death, Oko Sylvester, who was shot in the stomach, has been on suspension for his involvement in various acts of cultism and robbery; while Wilson Ebina was shot dead at a building under construction opposite the Faculty of Education Twin Theatre Hall.
“Both are said to belong to the Vikings Confraternity.”
Meanwhile, the statement noted that a final year student in the Faculty of Law and resident of Hall Four, Augustine Nkanu, also known as Abacha; and Joseph Obimbua, alias Obe, also a final year student of the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences are on the run after dangerous weapons were allegedly discovered in Nkanu’s room by the school security operatives.
Items recovered from the room include one locally made pistol, one small axe, one face mask, live and expended cartridges, military camouflage, military sweater, one long dagger, one machete, assorted bottles of concoctions, charms and rings, among others.
The items have been handed over to the Anti-Cultism Unit of the state Police Command for further investigation.
