A former presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, has commended the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for admitting to errors in the conduct of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Oloyede, in a rare admission, told a news conference in Abuja earlier in the week that there were glitches in the recently-conducted UTME.
His action has split opinions among Nigerians. But Laolu said the JAMB chief deserves commendation for the work he has done so far in the fight against examination malpractice.
“A lot of cheating is going on. We are having very troubling circumstances and situations where parents are paying for people to sit for their wards. It’s become a pandemic, and Oloyede is moving against that,” the former presidential spokesman said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily.
“And so we have to be careful not to let the people that are on the receiving end of that important reform use this occasion to push back against somebody like Oloyede or even the education minister, who is clearly also reform-minded. So my take is that: Oloyede has come out to say that, ‘Hey, this is, this is an embarrassment. I take responsibility’.
“Not many people would behave that way. So, we need to encourage him to continue to reform, and we need to encourage the minister,” he said.
READ ALSO: [JAMB Error] Responsible Parties Should Be Punished – Ex-Provost
JAMB’s Error
JAMB error: Oloyede did what is uncommon by taking responsibility; not everybody would do it, says ex-presidential spokesman Laolu Akande.
He says those pushing examination malpractice should not be allowed to take advantage of the situation. #CTVTweets@SunriseDailyNow pic.twitter.com/ribbAuzwnW
JAMB’s admission of error in the 2025 results came after a flurry of backlash over the conduct of this year’s UTME – the entrance examination into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Amid claims of glitches, unusually poor scores, and other issues, JAMB called for a review of the examination, after which it admitted to problems in the 2025 UTME.
Oloyede said that 379,997 candidates affected by the glitches would retake the UTME, beginning from May 16, 2025.
The first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia on ending their war in more than three years started on Friday in Istanbul, with expectations low that the two sides would agree to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Kyiv is seeking an “unconditional ceasefire” to the fighting, which has killed tens of thousands, destroyed large swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions of people.
Moscow says it wants to address the “root causes” of the conflict and revive failed 2022 negotiations in which it made sweeping territorial and political demands of Ukraine.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan opened the meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations around 1:35 pm (1035 GMT) in Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace.
He sat at the head of a table in front of Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian flags — with Russian and Ukrainian delegations facing each other, footage from the room showed.
Russian delegation (right side) Aleksandr Fomin (3rd L),deputy Minister of Defence, Mihail Galuzin (4th L), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Medinsky (5th L) , head of the peace talk delegation, Igor Kostyukov (6th L), Director of Russian Military Intelligence, (centre side) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan(C) , Turkish Intelligence Organisation Director Ibrahim Kalin (2nd L) and Ukrainian delegation attending a meeting for Ukraine-Russia peace talks at the Turkish Presidential office Dolmabahce, in Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)
Hundreds of journalists were camped outside the palace.
READ ALSO: Putin ‘Must Pay Price For Avoiding Peace’ In Ukraine – UK PM
The two sides spent the 24 hours before the talks slinging insults at each other and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of not being “serious” about peace.
Nevertheless, the fact the meeting was taking place at all was a sign of movement, with both sides having come under intense pressure from Washington to open talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to travel to Turkey for the talks, which he had proposed, sending a second-level delegation instead.
Members of Ukrainian delegation prepare for a meeting with members of Russian delegations at the Turkish Presidential office Dolmabahce, in Istanbul. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)
Zelensky criticised Russia for not taking the talks “seriously” by despatching people who he said had no power to make decisions.
Both Moscow and Washington have also talked up the need for a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump on the conflict.
“Contacts between presidents Putin and Trump are extremely important in the context of the Ukrainian settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, adding that “a meeting is undoubtedly necessary.”
Trump had said Thursday that nothing would be settled until the two leaders met.
‘Unconditional ceasefire’
“Ukraine is ready for peace and a long-term and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky’s top aid Andriy Yermak said Friday.
“The Ukrainian delegation is in Istanbul today to achieve an unconditional ceasefire — this is our priority,” he added.
Ahead of the talks with Russia, Ukrainian officials held meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg and the national security advisors of Britain, France and Germany.
Rubio “discussed the importance of seeking a peaceful end to the Russia-Ukraine war”, and reiterated “the US position that the killing needs to stop”, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
A Ukrainian diplomatic source in Istanbul told AFP the delegation also wanted to discuss a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting.
Another source accused Moscow of blocking US participation in the peace talks — the first since early 2022.
Western leaders have criticised Putin for skipping the talks and sending his aide — a former cultural minister who is not seen as a key Kremlin decision-maker — Vladimir Medinsky.
Rubio acknowledged that the Russian representation was “not at the levels we had hoped it would be at” and downplayed expectations for a breakthrough.
‘Points of contact’
Russia’s Medinsky led the failed 2022 talks with Ukraine at the start of the war, held right after Ukrainian forces pushed the Russian army away from Kyiv.
He said Thursday that Moscow sees the talks as a “continuation” of talks that failed in 2022 — a sign that Moscow’s hardline demands have not changed.
But Medinsky pushed back against Zelensky’s criticism and insisted that the Russian delegation has a mandate from Putin to ” find possible solutions and points of contact.”
Russia has repeatedly said it will not discuss giving up any territory that its forces occupy.
Kyiv’s chief negotiator is Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who has roots in Crimea, the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
‘Avoiding peace’
Kyiv and Moscow last held direct talks in March 2022, in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They collapsed and fighting has raged since, with Moscow now occupying around a fifth of Ukraine.
Russia continued its attacks in the hours ahead of the talks, with Kyiv saying at least two people were killed.
European leaders slammed Putin for skipping the Istanbul talks.
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas charged Friday that Russia was “clearly” not working for peace with Ukraine.
And NATO chief Mark Rutte said Putin had made a “big mistake” by sending a lower-rank Russian delegation to Istanbul.
A professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, on Friday said he is receiving support from some Nigerians who are planning to mobilise 500 lawyers to defend him against the Department of State Services.
Utomi disclosed this in a post on X.
“It’s energising (that) some want to put together 500 lawyers to defend me against the DSS,” he said.
The DSS had sued Utomi over his alleged plan to establish what he calls “a shadow government” in the country.
According to the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the DSS prayed the court to declare the move an attack on the Constitution.
The professor of Political Economy, who is the 2007 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was sued as the sole defendant.
READ ALSO: DSS Sues Pat Utomi Over Alleged Shadow Government Plan
In the suit filed on May 13 by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Akinlolu Kehinde, the agency contended that the move by Utomi was intended to create chaos and destabilise the country.
The DSS had argued that the planned shadow government was not only an aberration but also constituted a grave attack on the Constitution and a threat to the democratically elected government currently in place.
However, Utomi said he was gladened by the solidarity he had received from across the country.
“I am heartened by messages of solidarity from across Nigeria on this shadowy business of chasing shadows of shadow cabinets. Reminds me of the Nigeria I used to know. I want to thank all.”
READ ALSO:I Won’t Seek Public Office Again, Accept Govt Appointment In Nigeria — Pat Utomi
The planned shadow cabinet was greeted by reactions from several Nigerians, including a former presidential candidate and activist, Omoyele Sowore, who said it was an ineffective symbolic gesture that lacked real-world impact on Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
Speaking during an interview on Inside Sources on Channels TV on Sunday, Sowore argued that the idea of a shadow cabinet was futile in a country where the existing government is itself opaque and largely unaccountable.
He said, “Well, how do you replace a shadow government with another set of shadowy governments? I would not begrudge anybody who thinks of solutions that can bring awareness to the people.
