Oloyede Breaks Silence on Resignation Calls: ‘Truck Pushers Not in My League’

Following the scandals surrounding the administration of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has rejected calls for his resignation.
Speaking to a group of stakeholders on Wednesday, which included Abuja’s civil society organizations and chief external examiners, Oloyede claimed that resignation would have been equivalent to leaving the impacted pupils in their hour of need.
In addition, he rejected calls for his resignation, implying that those who made them lacked the authority or moral foundation to do so or to cast doubt on his leadership abilities.

He asserted that “pilots cannot be directed by truck pushers.”

Although the JAMB Registrar revealed that he thought about resigning when the whole ordeal began, he ultimately changed his mind and made the decision to try to make things right on the ground as much as feasible.
“My initial response to this was to step down. However, I was told by others that the pupils would never forgive you since it would seem like you left them when they needed you most,” Oloyede continued.

He urged stakeholders and the media to cease politicizing educational matters, arguing that ignorance and false information were the root cause of many public reactions.

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This stance, according to reports, comes after certain stakeholders, notably the House of Representatives’ South-East Caucus, made previous calls in the wake of the UTME controversy this year.

UTME Is Not An Intelligence Test
During the discussion, Professor Oloyede argued that the UTME should not be used to evaluate any candidate because it is only a placement test and not an indicator of intelligence.

Candidates are ranked by UTME for open spots in postsecondary educational institutions. Oloyede asserted that it is not the ultimate indicator of a student’s IQ or prospects.

In addition, the JAMB Registrar expressed sorrow over the suicide of Opesusi Timilehin, a 19-year-old applicant, who took her own life due to her poor UTME results. During the meeting, he requested a minute of silence in her honor.

“That tragedy broke all of us,” he said. Regretfully, there were also untrue claims; some parents called me claiming their kids had passed away, then demanded money.