{"id":163057,"date":"2025-05-19T12:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T11:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates"},"modified":"2025-05-19T13:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T12:28:59","slug":"imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates","title":{"rendered":"Imo police dismisses report on missing UTME candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Following recent report about missing of 15 candidates who were said to have been abducted on their way home after sitting for their rescheduled UTME in Imo State, the State Police Command has stated that the candidates were stranded not abducted.<\/p>\n<p>A press statement issued from the desk of the command\u2019s spokesperson, DSP Henry Okoye, stated that the vehicle conveying the candidates broke down rendering the students stranded along the way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify reports concerning fifteen students of Eminent Scholars Imperial Academy, Onitsha, Anambra State, who departed Onitsha on 16th May 2025 for their rescheduled JAMB examinations at the CBT centre in Okigwe Zone, Imo State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Command unequivocally confirms that no abduction took place. The students, together with their proprietor and support staff, safely arrived in Imo State and sat for their examinations as scheduled,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Okoye, however, explained that what actually happened was that during their return journey, their school bus experienced a mechanical failure within Amuro area of Okigwe, where mobile network coverage is said to be limited which rendered their handsets temporarily out of network.<\/p>\n<p>The Command\u2019s spokesperson pointed out that the poor network caused a communication gap, which gave rise to unfounded speculation online and concerns for their safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUpon receiving the information, operatives of the Imo State Police Command, in close collaboration with sister security agencies, immediately conducted a coordinated patrol and located the stranded students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were safely escorted to Owerri, where arrangements were made to tow and repair the school bus,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Okoye further stated that after putting the vehicle in order, the students, with their proprietor resumed their journey and returned to Onitsha.<\/p>\n<p>He commended the general public for showing concern and bringing the report to the notice of the police on time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Following recent report about missing of 15 candidates who were said to have been abducted on their way home after sitting for their rescheduled UTME in Imo State, the State Police Command has stated that the candidates were stranded not abducted. A press statement issued from the desk of the command\u2019s spokesperson, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":163055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[9614,254,658],"class_list":["post-163057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-imo-police","tag-nigeria","tag-utme"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Imo police dismisses report on missing UTME candidates - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following recent report about missing of 15 candidates who were said to have been abducted on their way home after sitti ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imo police dismisses report on missing UTME candidates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following recent report about missing of 15 candidates who were said to have been abducted on their way home after sitti ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-19T11:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-19T12:28:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747645174.441175.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Imo police dismisses report on missing UTME candidates\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-19T11:28:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-19T12:28:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\"},\"wordCount\":320,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747645174.441175.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Imo police\",\"Nigeria\",\"UTME\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/imo-police-dismisses-report-on-missing-utme-candidates\",\"name\":\"Imo police dismisses report on missing UTME candidates - 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