The Joint Admission Matriculation Board, JAMB has ordered Ahmadu Bello University, ABU to offer one Miss Shekwobyalo her course of choice, medicine, after admission denial
It was learnt that the Islam dominated institution had refused to admit Shekwobyalo owing to the fact that she is a Christian
The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede reached the conclusion and gave the orders after a close door meeting with the representative of the Commissioner for Education in Niger State Bellu Attahiru, the Admission Officer of ABU Haruna Ali Mohammed, representatives of the Civil Society Organisations and top officials of the agency.
The review meeting revealed that she was not the best candidate from Niger state despite her 309 score in UTME. A breakdown of the top candidates from Niger State is as follows Isah Mujahid (UTME,296; Post-UTME, 303; and Average Score, 299); Hassan Ruqayyat Ndaisa (UTME,275; Post-UTME, 309; and Average Score, 292) and Thomas Goodness Shekwobyalo (UTME,309 ; Post-UTME, 274; and Average Score, 288).
The school Management revealed that admission into Medicine on Merit was pegged at two candidates per state which the JAMB registrar pointed out as wrong.
JAMB Registrar, Oloyede said;
“Contrary to insinuations, this meeting has shown that Shekwobyalo was not discriminated against on religious or ethnic basis.
“We discovered that she has changed her course from Medicine to Anatomy.
” I spoke with her but she said somebody called her to change to Anatomy. Up till now, she has not shown any evidence.
” We discovered that ABU did something wrong. They were distributing merit on state basis. They decided to offer Medicine to two candidates per state.
“One of the achievements of this meeting is how to legitimize her admission into Medicine( MBBS).
” We have decided to reverse her Anatomy admission. ABU should put her on notice that she has been offered to read Medicine. It is left to her to accept or reject.
“JAMB exists to ensure fairness and justice to all. I have addressed many similar cases in about seven universities without sensationalisation on the basis of religion or tribalism.”
The Director of Schools and Educational Services, Mr. Bello Attahiru who represented Niger State’s Commissioner for Education said;
” It is obvious she was not discriminated along based on religion. I will let the Niger State Government know the facts as laid down today. We thank JAMB for reversing her admission from Anatomy to Medicine.”