The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has dismissed as false a document circulating on social media claiming that the results of candidates from 50 secondary schools were withheld over alleged examination malpractice in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
In a statement shared on its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday, the examination body described the document as fake and urged the public to disregard it.
“FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please disregard the message below. It did not originate from WAEC,” the council stated.
The forged document, dated August 2, 2026, was purportedly addressed to principals and heads of public and private secondary schools across Nigeria.
It falsely claimed that WAEC had withheld the results of candidates from 50 schools over alleged examination malpractice and directed the affected schools to submit detailed reports within 14 days or face additional sanctions.
The fake letter also contained a list of schools from several states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and was falsely signed in the name of the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut. It also bore what appeared to be the council’s official letterhead and stamps.
To further dispel the misinformation, WAEC published an image of the forged document with a bold red “FAKE” stamp across it.
The clarification came shortly after the council announced the release of the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE results for school candidates.
WAEC confirmed that the results of 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat the examination, were withheld over various cases of alleged examination malpractice.
According to the council, the infractions included the use of mobile phones in examination halls despite an existing ban and organised cheating in some schools.
WAEC also disclosed that some supervisors and invigilators found assisting candidates in examination malpractice had been arrested and would face disciplinary action through the relevant State Ministries of Education.
The council advised candidates, parents, schools and the general public to rely only on information published through its official communication channels and to disregard unverified documents circulating on social media…..See More