The Benue State Police Command and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) have firmly debunked claims that passengers abducted along the Makurdi-Otukpo Road on April 15, 2026, were students heading to sit for the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In separate statements issued on Saturday, April 18, both institutions corrected the widespread misinformation that had spread rapidly across media outlets and social platforms following the incident.
DSP Edet Udeme, spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, stated that the victims were ordinary passengers in a Makurdi-bound commercial bus and were not part of any organised group of UTME candidates.
JAMB’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, went a step further by revealing that the abducted individuals were actually participants in an ongoing police recruitment exercise returning to Otukpo at the time of the attack.
He expressed disappointment over the hasty and inaccurate reporting that wrongly implicated JAMB.
“It is regrettable that, in moments like this, there is a tendency to hastily malign government institutions, particularly JAMB, without proper verification of facts,” Benjamin said.
He urged those who spread the false narrative to publicly apologise to the board for the damage to its reputation.
Benjamin emphasised that the structure of the UTME makes it highly unlikely for candidates to travel together in large groups to the same centre, describing the initial claims as flawed from the start.
He stressed that while the victims’ true identity does not lessen the gravity of the crime, baseless accusations against institutions are unhelpful.
Meanwhile, the police have made significant progress in the case. Seven suspects have been arrested, and some victims rescued during a joint security operation in the Amla Forest area.
The rescued individuals are currently receiving medical attention.
The Commissioner of Police in Benue, Ifeanyi Emenari, assured the public that efforts to free the remaining victims are ongoing and appealed for credible information from residents to aid the operation.
The clarification comes after initial reports had sparked public outrage and concern over the safety of examination candidates in the region.
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