Identity Row: Benue Governor and JAMB Clash Over Rescued Kidnap Victims

A rescue mission on the Makurdi-Otukpo road has devolved into a public shouting match between the Benue State Government and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The conflict centers on a simple question: Who were the victims? Governor Hyacinth Alia claims that eight of the 13 recently rescued kidnap victims were UTME candidates who were heading to their exam centers in Otukpo. He has publicly urged JAMB to reschedule their exams, arguing that these students should not be punished for being victims of crime.

JAMB, however, is sticking to its guns, maintaining that none of the rescued individuals were its candidates. It’s a bizarre contradiction—one side claiming the victims are students, the other denying their existence in the candidate database.

The kidnapping itself was brutal. Eighteen passengers were abducted by gunmen between Taraku and Otukpo. While the rescue was a success—facilitated by security agencies and local communities—the aftermath is a mess of bureaucracy and denial.

Governor Alia has since directed the State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi to provide medical care for the victims. But as the row continues, the eight students caught in the middle are left in limbo, fighting a battle with a board that doesn’t even recognize them as candidates.

Sources: Politics Nigeria, Punch, The Sun Nigeria