The conflicting accounts come amid concerns over insecurity along the Makurdi–Otukpo route and longstanding complaints about JAMB’s allocation of distant examination centres.
Conflicting accounts by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the Benue State Police Command and Governor Hyacinth Alia have created uncertainty over the identity of passengers abducted along the Makurdi–Otukpo road on Wednesday, 15 April.
In a statement issued by the Police spokesperson, Udeme Edet, on 17 April, the Command dismissed reports that the victims were UTME candidates, as earlier claimed.
“The Command also wishes to clarify misinformation circulating in some news media suggesting that the victims were part of a convoy conveying students to write the UTME. The Command states that this claim is incorrect,” the statement read.
It added that the victims were not “confirmed to be part of any organised UTME-bound student convoy but passengers in a Markudi-bound bus.”
Similarly, JAMB, in a separate statement signed by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, on 18 April, said reports linking the incident to its examination were “erroneous.”
“Notably, none of the victims were UTME candidates. Rather, they were individuals who had travelled to Makurdi to participate in the ongoing police recruitment exercise and were returning to Otukpo at the time of the incident,” the board said.
However, Mr Alia gave a different account on Sunday after receiving 13 rescued victims at the Government House in Makurdi.
“Among the victims were eight students travelling to sit for the JAMB examinations,” he said.
He appealed to JAMB to make “special arrangements” for the affected candidates to sit their examinations.
“I call on JAMB to look into the case of the eight young students and reschedule dates for them to write their examination,” he said.
Giving details on the abduction, the governor said 18 passengers were on board the Benue Links bus, with 15 abducted during the attack.
He said one victim escaped on the day of the incident, another the following morning, while security operatives later rescued the remaining 13.
He added that many of the passengers were travelling to Otukpo, where some who are UTME candidates had planned to spend the night ahead of their examination.
A Facebook video also showed the rescued candidates holding their examination slips as they narrated their ordeal.
In the footage, the candidates said they were scheduled to write the examination at Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA). Three are from Tarka LGA, three from Buruku LGA, one from Vandeikya LGA, and another from Enugu State.
They also appealed to JAMB to reschedule their examination dates, saying the incident had disrupted their plans to sit for the test as scheduled.
The abduction incident occurred on 15 April around 8 p.m. when gunmen attacked a commercial bus conveying passengers along the Makurdi–Otukpo axis, a route that has recorded repeated security incidents.
In a bid to rescue the victims, the police said a joint operation involving multiple security agencies led to the rescue of the victims and the arrest of seven suspects, with ongoing efforts to apprehend others.
They also confirmed that search-and-rescue operations were concentrated in forest areas, including Amla Forest and surrounding locations.
Initial reports of the incident widely described the victims as UTME candidates travelling to Otukpo for their examinations scheduled for the next day, 16 April.
Some families of the victims also said their relatives were heading to write the exam and had set out a day earlier to meet the scheduled test times.
These accounts contributed to public concern, especially given the early reporting times and distances candidates often travel to access their assigned centres.
Meanwhile, all these claims had been widely reported before the police and JAMB issued statements disputing them.
The latest abduction involving JAMB candidates adds to a growing list of security incidents across Benue State in recent weeks, including deadly attacks in communities in Apa and Gwer East LGAs, where several residents were killed and displaced.
However, repeated attacks along major routes such as the Makurdi–Otukpo highway have continued to raise concerns about the safety of commuters, particularly students and other vulnerable travellers.
The incident has also drawn attention to longstanding complaints by candidates and parents about the board’s posting of candidates to examination centres far from their places of residence.
Candidates are often required to report early at designated centres, a situation that sometimes compels them to travel a day ahead or arrive the night before their examinations.
In this case, early reports and accounts from relatives indicated that some of the passengers were travelling to Otukpo ahead of scheduled activities the following day, a detail that contributed to claims that they were UTME candidates.
Although JAMB maintains that its system allocates centres based on available capacity, public critics have raised concerns about the risks of long-distance travel, especially in areas affected by insecurity.
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