Four Abuja Varsity Students Face Prosecution over Fake NECO Certificates …As exam body commences nationwide screening exercise

The authorities of the University of Abuja have released four students of the university to the National Examinations Council (NECO) for prosecution over alleged certificate forgery.

The four suspects accused of allegedly  forging NECO results to gain admission into the university are to be arraigned by the examination body this week.

The students, whose names are Effiong Theresa Etim, Solomon Victor, Abdulkabir Mohammad and Yakubu Joy Adama, have since been arrested by the police and were in detention in Minna, Niger State, where NECO has its headquarters.

It was learnt that the suspects, who have been slammed with a one-count charge by the FCT Magistrate Court, Wuse 2, Abuja, by the police, were said to be in different faculties the university, where they allegedly used the forged certificates to gain admission.

The police prosecutor, Chijioke Chigozie, said about nine students of the university have so far been arrested over the similar offence, adding however that they were still under investigation.

The arrest which took place in October 2019, is sequel to an ongoing screening exercise embarked upon by NECO on all the higher institutions in Nigeria.

 

The examination body said the move was to overhaul the institutions and its certificate issuance in order to ensure that only credible certificates are issued to the public.

The one-count charge read: “On October 18, 2019, the registrar of the University of Abuja laid a complaint to the AIG zone 7 headquarters in Abuja for investigation.

“It revealed that the certificates you, Effiong Theresa Etim with June 2017 NECO SSC No: 501569013; Solomon Victor, June 2017 NECO SSC No: 10506512111; Abdulkabir Mohammad with June 2012 NECO SSC No: 105016543, and Yakubu Joy Adama with June 2016 NECO SSC No: 597472720, upon which you gained admission or sought admission into the University of Abuja were forged. You are thereby suspected to have committed the above offence.”

Even as it was gathered that the case would come up any moment soon for hearing in the court, it was yet to be assigned to any judge.