An Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has thrown its weight behind the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, amid growing calls for his resignation following technical glitches during the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday and signed by its Founder and Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, MURIC described the calls for Oloyede’s resignation — particularly from the South East caucus of the House of Representatives and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) branch — as “callous, ridiculous and unpatriotic.”
The group condemned the resignation demands as ethnically motivated and lacking intellectual merit, stating, “It smirks of ethnic buccaneering and suffers from intellectual poverty. Our lawmakers and academics should rise above articulated tribal jingoism.”
According to MURIC, JAMB under Oloyede has recorded unprecedented reforms, including consistent financial remittances to the Federal Government, a sharp contrast to the institution’s past. The statement noted that JAMB returned over N50 billion to the government since Oloyede assumed office, compared to just N52 million in the four decades before his tenure.
Highlighting specific figures, MURIC said JAMB remitted N3.51 billion in 2021 and N6 billion in 2024. “This year, Oloyede even informed the Federal Government that JAMB required no budgetary allocation, as its internally generated revenue was sufficient for its operations,” the group added.
The group questioned the rationale behind the calls for Oloyede’s ouster, asking, “Is this the man the South East caucus of the House of Representatives wants to resign? Is this how we should treat our heroes?”
MURIC further accused Oloyede’s critics of attempting to “sacrifice excellence on the altar of mediocrity,” arguing that the attack on the registrar was an effort to undermine transparency and reward corruption.
In its message to Oloyede, MURIC urged him to remain focused and ignore the criticisms. “Resignation will send the wrong signal to good Nigerians who consider you their model,” the statement read.
MURIC concluded by affirming its support for the registrar, encouraging him to continue his reform agenda within JAMB despite opposition from “institutionalised kleptomaniacs, political shenanigans, academic charlatans and ethnic demagogues.”
