The Katsina Division of the Federal High Court will deliver a ruling on the admissibility of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) slip as evidence in the alleged exam malpractice case filed against two persons in the state on September 30.

The police charged Bolanwu Emmanuel and Ibrahim Abdulaziz with exam malpractice during the recent 2025 UTME, organised by the JAMB.

During the proceedings on Friday, Abdussalam Danmaidaki, the prosecution counsel and officer-in-charge of legal matters at the Katsina Police Command, presented Nuhu Hussaini as a witness before the court.

Mr Hussaini told the court that on April 30, Mr Emmanuel was verified and allowed into an examination hall at Ze Alpha International School, Funtua, Katsina.

He stated that during the examination, a supervisor reported that the defendants were involved in examination malpractice.

“When checked for verification, I found the first defendant’s records, but the second defendant’s records couldn’t be found in the computer.

“We handed them over to the security personnel together with the examination slip of the first defendant, containing his picture, details, and the JAMB logo,” he said.

The defendants’ counsel, MT Steven, however, objected to the document to be tendered as evidence; he cited Section 84, subsections 2, 3, and 4 of the Evidence Act, 2023, as amended.

He, therefore, prayed the court to reject the said document and mark the same as rejected.

The prosecution counsel, Mr Danmaidaki, on the other hand, quoted the same section of the law to prove his argument.

He further explained that the witness printed the document from the verbal information given by the defendant, inserted it into a functional computer, and retrieved the details.

Mr Danmaidaki said that alone has satisfied the law requirements of the Evidence Act.

He told the court that the exam slip of the first defendant was very relevant and urged the court to admit it as evidence in the case.

After the counsel’s arguments, the judge, Justice Hussaini Dadan-Garba, adjourned the case until September 30 for ruling on the admissibility of evidence or otherwise of the document and for a continuous hearing.

(NAN)