A staff member of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Olanrewaju Fadehan, has accused the council’s Director-General, Dr Amos Josiah Dangut, of presiding over alleged financial irregularities involving calculators and identification cards meant for candidates who sat the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Fadehan, who spoke exclusively to SaharaReporters on Tuesday, alleged that the value of the calculators and identification cards allegedly not supplied to candidates could amount to about ₦15 billion.
He also rejected allegations of cyberstalking and criminal defamation, saying his public statements were whistleblowing based on evidence he had gathered over alleged irregularities within WAEC.
“I will not be gagged and I will not be cowed by any police formation that is inviting me over the issue of cyberstalking and criminal defamation because I am not cyberstalking anybody. I’m just whistleblowing,” Fadehan told SaharaReporters.
“There’s nothing that has to do with defamation. I’m not defaming the person of Dangut because Dr Dangut did what I said he did and I have evidence to prove it.”
Fadehan’s comments came after he was summoned by the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) to appear in Abuja last Wednesday over allegations of cyberstalking and criminal defamation.
The invitation came a day after a Lagos State High Court issued an interim order restraining him from making further public statements against WAEC and Dangut.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya, in Suit No. LD/ADR/6656/2026, issued the order in a suit in which WAEC and Dangut are seeking ₦825 million in damages over Fadehan’s publications.
The claims include ₦500 million in general damages, ₦300 million in aggravated and exemplary damages and ₦25 million in legal costs.
The court also ordered Fadehan to refrain from publishing or circulating statements allegedly defamatory of WAEC or damaging to Dangut’s reputation on platforms including YouTube and WhatsApp. The order is expected to lapse after seven days unless extended by the court.
Fadehan, however, said the police invitation and court action would not stop him from raising questions about what he described as serious financial and administrative problems at WAEC.
Alleged ₦15bn Calculator, ID Card Shortfall
Fadehan said the controversy began during the 2026 WASSCE after he received complaints from education officials, school principals and other stakeholders in Anambra State about the non-availability of calculators and identification cards allegedly paid for by candidates.
“A lot of people, including ministry officials, the commissioner for education, the post-primary service commission of the state, that is Anambra, and directors from the ministry of education, principals from various schools, they were all calling me,” he said.
He said he retained recordings of some of the calls, which he claimed showed that the complaints were widespread.
According to Fadehan, candidates had paid WAEC for calculators and identification cards, but large numbers allegedly did not receive them.
He cited Anambra as an example, claiming that only about 13,000 calculators were released for more than 65,000 candidates.
“So if you do the maths, that’s one over five of the candidature that got calculators,” he said.
“The rest were asked to go and purchase calculators that they have paid for.”
Fadehan alleged that the calculator supplied by WAEC was valued at about ₦4,500 on the council’s procurement portal.
He estimated that if approximately 1.5 million candidates did not receive the calculators, the value of the shortfall would be about ₦6.75 billion.
“That gives you ₦7 billion thereabouts,” he said.
He alleged that the identification cards brought the total value of the items to about ₦15 billion.
“That was not the only thing that was not given to these candidates. Their ID cards were not also given,” he said.
He explained that the cards were intended to identify candidates during examinations, assist with verification and provide a means of checking examination results.
He alleged that their absence weakened mechanisms designed to prevent examination malpractice.
“It meant that during the exam, there was nothing to check for malpractice, to check whether the candidate that was sitting the exam was the actual candidate,” he said.
Claims Of Examination Irregularities
Fadehan also alleged that question papers were not adequately supplied at some examination centres, forcing candidates to share papers.
“There was a school I went to, Anerobi, in Awka here, under Opuno Custodial Centre. This particular place, I had to go and rescue them because over 100 candidates could not get their question papers,” he said.
“We had to tell them to pair four candidates to one question paper. And this happened a lot during that exam.”
He further alleged that some examinations started several hours after the scheduled time, potentially giving candidates access to questions for subsequent papers.
According to him, examinations scheduled for around 9:30am sometimes started around noon or 1pm.
“So many other things happened that is not even financial related that actually brought down the glory of WAEC, starting exams late almost every day around 12pm or 1pm when exams should have started at about 9:30am in the morning,” he said.
Petitions To EFCC, ICPC
Fadehan said he first raised his concerns internally before writing to the WAEC board, the Minister of Education and the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Examining Bodies.
“I told them that these are the stuff that this man is doing, that is bringing down the glory of WAEC. Please investigate him,” he said.
“I wrote to them, that was in June, precisely on June 5th.”
He said he later petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
“I have petitioned EFCC, I have written a petition to ICPC, I’ve written a petition to EFCC, but I only did all of that recently, maybe in the past three weeks thereabouts, and I only sent a petition to EFCC recently too, just last week,” he said.
Fadehan also alleged that WAEC began efforts to distribute some of the materials after the controversy became public, months after the examinations and release of results.
“I have clips, video evidence, evidence from offices showing that months after exams had been taken and results released, this man is now trying… Instead of him to refund the candidates their monies, since he had said they should use their monies to buy these calculators,” he said.
Dispute Over Disciplinary Action
Fadehan disputed WAEC’s position that his disciplinary action was connected to an alleged diesel shortage at its Awka office, saying the issue was being used to portray him as a disgruntled employee.
“The query does not say anything about fuel. The query did not say anything about diesel,” he said.
“So this one that is bringing up the issue of diesel…is just a face-saving mechanism, so that it will spoil my name, so that people will not say, ‘Oh, he’s actually disgruntled, that is why he’s doing what he’s doing.’”
WAEC has previously linked Fadehan’s disciplinary action to an alleged diesel shortage at its Awka office and maintained that his employment status remains subject to internal proceedings.
Fadehan, however, said the diesel matter had already been addressed by an internal panel and insisted that his current disciplinary action was connected to his allegations against Dangut.
He accused WAEC of setting up what he described as a “kangaroo panel” and alleged that his dismissal had been predetermined.
He said documents in his possession showed that a decision to terminate his appointment had been reached before the disciplinary proceedings were concluded, adding that the decision was later changed from termination to dismissal, which he said could affect his gratuity and pension.
Allegation Of Intimidation
Fadehan accused Dangut of using institutional processes and the police to intimidate him.
“Instead of this man to be investigated, I believe that he bribed his way through, and they now gave him power to come and set up a panel for me,” he alleged.
He also claimed, without providing evidence to SaharaReporters at the time of the interview, that an anti-graft agency may have received as much as ₦250 million to frustrate investigations.
“I got it from a very reliable source, even up to the tune of ₦250 million, so that they…for some reasons, let me protect them, because I believe that they will also be the ones to do their job,” he said.
Fadehan said he intended to provide SaharaReporters with documents and recordings relating to the disciplinary proceedings.
He also accused WAEC of mistreating staff, alleging that some workers were dismissed or demoted without adequate justification.
Beyond his own case, Fadehan said his central concern was the impact of the alleged examination irregularities on Nigerian students.
“The only way you can protect me, and protect the truth, and protect the Nigerian child, because so many children failed mathematics, just because they were not given what they were supposed to be given,” he said.
He cited Babcock University examination centre, claiming that only a small number of candidates passed Mathematics, English, Chemistry and Physics.
Fadehan insisted that his criticism was intended to protect WAEC rather than destroy it.
“Nobody is pulling down WAEC. WAEC made me who I am in th past 15 years of my life, close to 15 years now, so I will not come down to pull down WAEC,” he said.
“For anybody that is trying to pull down WAEC, because this is my pot of soup, I will make sure that I report that person to the whole world, so that the system can be saved.”
‘I Have My Evidence Stored’
Fadehan said he was prepared to face the police, EFCC, ICPC and the courts, insisting that evidence supporting his allegations had been preserved.
“Even if I’m incarcerated today, I have my evidence stored in various areas with various people,” he said.
“So even if I cannot speak any longer, people will continue to post this evidence.”
He said he would continue to rely on Nigeria’s whistleblower protection framework and called for an independent investigation into his allegations against WAEC and Dangut.
“I’m not defaming WAEC or Dangut, because it was what Dangut did that I’m talking about,” he said.
Reacting to the allegations, WAEC Director-General Dr Amos Josiah Dangut told SaharaReporters that the matter was already before the court, and that he would limit his comments so as not to interfere with the judicial process.
“This matter is already in court, but I will just give a few comments to avoid running afoul of the judiciary. This guy is currently being probed for administrative action by the council, and he has been called by the IGP to come and prove all those lies he is spreading,” Dangut said.
“I don’t even know why he is making this personal. All he said was against the council, but he is trying to personalise it against me. I don’t know why he is doing this.”
“If he has evidence of everything he said, he should let the court do its job,” he added.
