A magistrate court in Nasarawa state today January 28th, sentenced to three years in prison each, a pastor of one of the new generation churches, Ujaku Emem Samuel, his wife, Mrs. Peace and two others, Opulani Sunupe and Umar Musa Sa’adu, for selling the e-PIN for the 2020 unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) above N4,000 stipulated price.
According to a statement by JAMB’s Head of Information, the four accused persons were apprehended by men of the NSCDC in Nasarawa state selling the JAMB form above N4000. They were arraigned before the court today and they pleaded guilty.
The statement reads: “No fewer than four persons who are agents of accredited sale outlets arrested by officers of NSCDC, Nasarawa State Command for selling the ongoing 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) application documents above the prescribed price of N4000, have been sentenced to three years in prison each.
“Before the commencement of the sale of 2020, UTME/DE application documents on 13th January 2020 the sale outlets and their agents were adequately briefed by the Board on the cost and procedures for vending the ePINs. The price of the ePINS was fixed at N3500 while that of the Reading Text was N500 totalling N4000.
“A commission of N210 from the N3500 due to the Board is given to the sale outlets as a commission on each pin sold to motivate them as well as dissuade them from exploiting candidates.
“It would be recalled that the Federal Government, in a bid to lessen the burden on parents, had directed that the UTME application documents be sold at N3500 down from N5000 charged earlier.
“Therefore, it is rather unfortunate that in spite of all the warnings and appeals as well as the offer of a fat commission by the Board, some sale agents still deemed it fit to test the resolve of the Board and the Federal Government by doing the contrary.
“This conviction is only the first in the series of ongoing prosecution of cases in several courts of law across the country, and, as such, many more convictions are being expected in due course.
“All sale outlets and their agents charged with the vending of the ePINs are hereby warned, in their own interest, to desist from engaging in sharp practices or face the consequences.
“Anyone who sells the ePINs above the regulated price would certainly, be arrested and prosecuted as each ePIN comes with a unique identifier for ease of tracking.
“Similarly, candidates are also warned to desist from paying more than the prescribed price as they can be culpable of aiding and abetting corrupt acts.
“The Board also wish to inform the general public that it welcomes credible and actionable reports of persons or centres exploiting candidates by selling above the regulated price.”
The police and judicial systems in Nigeria should be ashamed of themselves. How do you explain sending someone to three years jail sentence because they sold a form higher than the stipulated price(I don’t support violation of rule either), but how justified is it to send these people to languish in jail for three years while overlooking politicians who rendered the economy hopeless by stealing public money and dumping them in their accounts oversea, buying houses and investments and sending their families overseas; while overlooking millions of police and other security officers who liter the roads of South Eastern Nigeria extorting money from almost every public transit system they can lay hands on, I ask how do you explain judiciary full of extortion, lies and miscarriage of justice; how I ask, do you even imagine arresting these so called JAMB form racketeers, and explain sentencing them to a whooping three years in jail for selling JAMB form above stipulated price while Fulani herdsmen massacre innocent citizens and get away scot free, kidnapers and Boko Haram make daily routine beheading, and maiming innocent and hapless Nigerians? Shame and I repeat Shame to a rudderless regime and hopelessly and irredeemably corrupt system!