The Initiative for School Excellence and Education Foundation has threatened legal action against WAEC over the 2026 Computer-Based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE) results, demanding an independent verification and transparency in the review process.
Chinwe Onubugo, a lawyer for Zuriel Law Practice on behalf of the foundation, in a letter sighted by BusinessDay as posted by Alex Onyia, CEO of Educare, through his official X handle @winexviv, demanded that the West African Examinations Council should 14 days of receipt of the letter, confirm that all electronic and documentary records relating to the 2026 CB-WASSCE have been preserved in their original and unaltered form.
Besides, the council is to provide copies of, or reasonable access to, the regulations, protocols and technical framework governing the 2026 CBE; confirm the mechanism through which candidates may obtain their individual electronic examination records; and establish a transparent procedure for affected candidates to query and challenge their results.
Moreover, WAEC is to confirm the safeguards employed to verify the accuracy of electronically recorded responses and automatically generated scores; provide appropriate information concerning any material technical incidents encountered during the 2026 CBE and the measures taken to determine whether such incidents affected candidates’ results; engage with the foundation concerning an independent verification or audit mechanism; and agree to suspend any irreversible disposal, destruction or alteration of records relevant to the issues raised herein pending completion of the proposed review.
Consequent to non-engagement, the foundation states it will take the necessary court actions against WAEC.
‘If WAEC fails or refuses to engage meaningfully with the matters raised herein within the stipulated period, our client will have no option but to pursue appropriate legal remedies and commence proceedings in court, seeking, amongst other reliefs: orders declaring WAEC’s statutory obligations in relation to the integrity, transparency and reliability of the 2026 CBE.
‘Appropriate orders compelling preservation and disclosure of relevant examination records, orders requiring the establishment of an effective candidate review and verification mechanism; orders requiring human review and independent reprocessing where material discrepancies are established,’ the letter stated.
In addition, it stated that appropriate orders concerning any systemic defect shown to have affected the reliability of the 2026 examination results; and that such further or other orders as the court may deem appropriate.
‘Our client sincerely hopes that litigation will be unnecessary and that WAEC will recognise that the requested measures are intended principally to preserve public confidence in the examination system and protect the educational interests of affected Nigerian students.
‘Nothing in this letter should be construed as a waiver of any right, remedy or cause of action available to our client or to any affected candidate,’ the letter read.
According to Onyia, in his post, there appears to be a serious problem with the recently released results that WAEC has so far refused to publicly acknowledge and address. The consequences are not abstract.
‘Real students are affected. Their admissions, opportunities and futures are at stake. We cannot sit back and watch an institution as important as WAEC toy with the destinies of young people because it is unwilling to admit that something may have gone wrong.
‘If there is a glitch, admit it. Investigate it transparently. Fix it. And where students have been wrongly affected, correct their results. That is what accountability looks like,’ he stated.
Meanwhile, he insisted that no institution should be too big to admit an error, especially when the future of a child may depend on it.
‘WAEC must be accountable. WAEC must be transparent. And every affected student deserves answers,’ Onyia noted.
Recall that BusinessDay earlier reported that WAEC reaffirmed its commitment to preserving the integrity of its assessment processes and safeguarding the interests of every candidate, and advised the general public to refrain from unverified social media speculation.
Moyosola Adesina, the head of public affairs at WAEC, Yaba, Lagos, disclosed this, in a statement on behalf of the head of national office.
‘The council has observed with concern the recent wave of public commentary, particularly from content creators and social media commentators, questioning the accuracy and credibility of the recently released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2026.
‘While the council welcomes constructive scrutiny as part of its accountability to candidates, parents, schools, and the wider public, it wishes to state unequivocally that this year’s results were produced through the same rigorous, transparent, and quality-assured processes that have guided the Council’s operations for decades,’ the statement read in part.
The Council explained that the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2026, was conducted strictly in line with WAEC’s established standard operational procedures and in keeping with relevant educational policies in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education.