August 5, 2026 | 4:20PM
The West African Examinations Council has debunked a fake letter circulating online claiming that results of candidates from 50 secondary schools were withheld in the 2026 WASSCE over alleged malpractice.
In a statement on its official X handle on Wednesday, WAEC urged the public to disregard the document. “FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please disregard the message below. It did not originate from WAEC,” the council said.The forged letter, dated August 2, 2026, was supposedly addressed to heads of public and private schools in Nigeria. It claimed 50 schools had their results withheld and directed them to submit reports within 14 days or face sanctions.
The fake memo listed schools in states including Lagos and Abuja, and was falsely signed in the name of WAEC Nigeria Head, Dr Amos Dangut. It also carried a forged letterhead and stamps.WAEC posted a copy of the document with a bold red “FAKE” stamp across it.
The clarification comes hours after WAEC released the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE results and announced that 167,486 candidates’ results, representing 8.59% of 1,950,726 candidates, were withheld over malpractice.WAEC said the affected results were withheld due to infractions such as use of mobile phones in exam halls and organized cheating.
