The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released an additional 36,540 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results which were earlier withheld for further investigation.

Disclosing this in a statement on Tuesday, JAMB’s spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, said the latest release was in addition to the 531 results released the previous week, bringing the total results released to 1,879,437.

He also denied claims purporting to emanate from the board that the outstanding 2024 UTME results, currently being subjected to intense scrutiny by its team of experts, had been compromised on account of a cyber security breach and that it is considering rescheduling the examination.

Benjamin asked the public to disregard the report, saying it was created by fraudsters who are out to dupe the unsuspecting members of the public.

“In another development, the attention of the Board was drawn to a fictitious letter concocted by a fraudster and circulated on social media purporting to emanate from the Board stating that the outstanding 2024 UTME results, currently being subjected to intense scrutiny by its team of experts, had been compromised on account of a cyber security breach and that it is considering rescheduling the examination.

“This is far from the truth as the said letter did not emanate from the Board. In fact, a closer look at the letter, which was not signed by any person, lacked every ingredient of a letter from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board. The letter is, therefore, from those, who wish to destroy the integrity of the Board, by compromising its unassailable operational processes to mislead hapless candidates with the sole aim of extorting them.

“The Board reiterated, for the umpteenth time, that the results of its 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and other previous years are intact, not in any cloud storage and can, therefore, not be hacked by anybody.

“It is to be recalled that at the release of the 2024 UTME, the Board had announced that some results had been withheld as they were being subjected to further investigation. Out of these, 531 results were released recently. Others found to be involved in any examination misconduct are still undergoing investigation as the Board would want to review all the footage of all CCTV cameras placed in all its accredited centres to ascertain the candidate’s culpability or otherwise,” the statement read.

Mahmud Albarnawy, the eldest son of the founder of the Islamic States of West African Province (ISWAP), has reportedly surrendered to operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Borno.

Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication focused on the Lake Chad region, said Mahmud surrendered to the security operatives on May 12.

Intelligent sources told Makama that 22-year-old Mahmud was confirmed to be the son of Maman Nur, founder of the ISWAP, after he was profiled at the NSCDC headquarters in Maiduguri, Borno capital.

The publication said an uncle of Mahmud in Gamboru Ngala encouraged him to surrender after he received information about his readiness to abandon the group.

“A reliable agent was sent to convey him to Maiduguri. They arrived in Maiduguri on May 11 at about 1 pm,” the publication said.

“Mahmud was later debriefed and profiled by an intelligence officer of the command, where he confessed to having sneaked out of the Ali Ngulde camp in Mandara Mountain, Gwoza LGA, into Maiduguri and stayed for about a month at Gwange in the city capital before relocating to Gamboru Ngala without any alarm or distress signs from communities.

“During his stay in Gamboru Ngala, some of his late father’s loyalists were persuading him to return to the Lake Chad general area to pay allegiance to ISWAP, but he refused, citing the betrayal and eventual execution of his late father.”

Makama said Mahmud confessed to having been involved in attacks launched at Bama, Banki, Gwoza, and many other areas in Borno.

The publication said the terrorist who surrendered used to work as a middle-rank fighter under the Boko Haram group.

The publication added that he had been handed over to the Bulunkutu rehabilitation facility for further documentation and custody.

1. Osun State Police Command, on Tuesday, said it has arrested a former manager in one of the branches of a first-generation bank in Osogbo, Mr Adeniyi Talabi, for allegedly stealing a sum of N650m belonging to 35 customers of the bank.

2. Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji has lashed out at the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, for opposing his decision to sponsor the wedding of 100 girls orphaned by banditry. He said she was being misled. Sarkindaji told reporters that the minister does not know anything about his constituency and their needs and has no right to criticise his decision.

3. Reversal of the hike in electricity tariff will be a setback for the transformation of the energy sector to boost supply to Nigerians, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said on Tuesday. He appealed to Labour to see reason with the government.

4. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, said Tuesday that petrol stations are to have points of sale for Compressed Natural Gas, CNG. The agency’s Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, broke the news to reporters after a meeting with high volume suppliers of petroleum products in Abuja.

5. The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ebonyi has pegged the forms for local government chairmanship election at N25 million and that of councillor at N210,000. The party’s chairman in the state, Stanley Emegha, announced this in a statement in Abakaliki, the state capital.

6. Operatives of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, on Tuesday, expanded its clampdown on Bureau De Change operators, arresting traders in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt. This came as the naira weakened further against the United States dollar at both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets.

7. After several weeks of hiatus, the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government will finally meet today (Wednesday), May 15, 2024, sources familiar with the matter confirmed the development. The Labour unions also stood their ground on their proposal of N615,000 minimum wage while insisting on the May 31, 2024 deadline.

8. A member of the House of Representatives representing Zurmi/Shinkafa Federal Constituency, Bello Hassan, on Tuesday, said bandits had attacked no fewer than 50 communities in the Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State. He said the incessant attacks by the bandits had forced residents of the affected communities to abandon their ancestral homes.

9. Loud explosions were heard at the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria gas processing plant at Gbarain, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Tuesday. Thick smoke was seen rising into the sky, raising concerns of gas export disruptions as the gas plant feeds the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas export terminal in the Bonny Island area of the state.

10. Rivers State Government is under a debt burden imposed by the soaring cost of projects initiated by my predecessor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara said on Tuesday. He said many contractors were demanding outstanding payments running to billions of naira, which former Governor Nyesom Wike could not redeem before handing over last year.