Another JAMB official 'steals' N23 million, gives strange Defence

A few days after the bizarre report that a snake 'swallowed' about N36 million from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board's vault in Benue State, another state co-ordinator of the board in Nassarawa state has come up with a rather strange story to back an alleged fraud.

This time, JAMB staffer, Labaran Tanko, said his car got burnt and in the process scratch cards worth N23 million were destroyed in the inferno.

However, not impressed, as in the case of the Benue saga, the board, reacting through its registrar, dismissed Mr. Tanko's claims.

The board said after a thorough investigation, it discovered that the cards which reportedly burnt alongside Mr. Tanko's car were used by students in Nassarawa state to register.

It said this was easy to discover through simple checks done by its officials.

Mr. Tanko, who made this confession at a session where suspects of fraud and criminality were interrogated by top officials of the board, including Registrar Ishaq Oloyede, however stood by his claim.

"I thank God that I am alive today," Mr Tanko told the panel. "I had an accident on July 3rd 2016. I was not the one that packed the cards because I was rushed to the hospital, and they came to pack the burnt scratch cards to the office but it could not be counted. I have the serial numbers of the cards."

Until Mr. Oloyede's took over as registrar, JAMB candidates usually purchased scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centres to gain access to the board's website for either registration or to check their admission status.

However, new reforms introduced by Mr. Oloyede, when he assumed office in 2016, ended the use of scratch cards, replacing it with a more efficient and effective platforms.

- Premium Times