Alia asks JAMB to reschedule exam for eight kidnapped UTME candidates

Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue State, has called on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to reschedule the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for eight candidates who were abducted last Wednesday.

The victims were kidnapped along the Makurdi–Otukpo road in Benue State.

On Sunday, troops of the Nigerian Army rescued the remaining victims in a forest located in Okere ward, Ohimini Local Government Area.

Speaking at the Government House in Makurdi, Alia said 15 people were abducted during the incident, with two managing to escape earlier.

According to reports, the governor confirmed that the remaining victims were freed in the early hours of Sunday.

“Many of the students were travelling to Otukpo. Seven were regular passengers, and 15 were kidnapped that fateful day. One of the victims escaped, and another one escaped the following day,” Alia said.

“Today, all the remaining 13 kidnap victims were rescued by the security agents with the cooperation of the communities.

“I call on JAMB to look into the case of the eight young students and reschedule dates for them to write their examination.”

Earlier, the Benue State Police Command had stated that the abducted passengers were not UTME candidates, describing such reports as “misinformation and incorrect.”

Similarly, JAMB, through its spokesperson Fabian Benjamin, said the travellers were actually returning from Makurdi after participating in an ongoing police recruitment exercise at the time of the incident.