Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has appealed to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to organise a fresh examination date for eight candidates of the 2026 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) who were recently abducted.
The victims were among travellers kidnapped last Wednesday along the Makurdi–Otukpo road. They were later rescued during a security operation carried out in a forest in Okere ward, located in Ohimini Local Government Area.
Speaking on Sunday at the Government House in Makurdi, Alia disclosed that 15 individuals were initially abducted during the incident. According to him, two victims managed to escape earlier, while the remaining 13 were eventually freed through a joint effort by Nigerian Army troops and local community members.
He explained that several of the victims were en route to Otukpo at the time of the attack, noting that seven were regular passengers among those kidnapped.
“All the remaining 13 victims have now been rescued by security operatives with the support of local communities,” the governor said, while urging JAMB to consider rescheduling the examination for the affected students.
However, earlier statements from authorities have challenged the claim that the abducted individuals were UTME candidates. The Benue State Police Command, through its spokesperson Udeme Edet, described such reports as inaccurate and misleading.
In a similar vein, JAMB spokesperson Fabian Benjamin clarified that the travellers were returning from a police recruitment exercise in Makurdi when the abduction occurred, not heading to sit for the UTME.
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