The Faculty of Law at the University of Jos has dismissed as ‘false and unfounded’ allegations by Solomon Dalung, former Sports Minister under late President Muhammadu Buhari, against the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan.
The rebuttal follows comments made by Dalung in a television interview, where he alleged that students’ results were manipulated during Amupitan’s tenure as Dean of the faculty.
In a statement signed Francis Kwede, the dean of the faculty obtained by BusinessDay on Tuesday in Jos said there was no record of any form of result manipulation or favouritism in the institution.
It specifically denied claims that results of some students in the 2009/2010 academic session were altered in favour of so-called ‘special students,’ insisting that such incidents never occurred.
The faculty explained that during Amupitan’s tenure between 2008 and 2014, reforms were introduced to strengthen the integrity of result processing, including the adoption of electronic spreadsheets to reduce errors linked to manual computation.
According to the statement, the innovation improved transparency and efficiency, helping students meet requirements for progression to the Nigerian Law School.
The faculty described the allegations against Amupitan’s integrity as ‘false, baseless and without merit,’ urging the public to disregard them, noting they were made within the context of partisan political discourse.
It added that the former Dean conducted himself with honour and professionalism, and that his tenure recorded both academic and infrastructural improvements within the faculty.
The management also dismissed claims that Dalung or any other student was victimised, stating that records show Dalung completed his postgraduate studies and obtained his LL.M in 2010.
‘There is no record to suggest that Dalung was victimised or that he challenged any result on behalf of students during his time in the faculty,’ the statement added.