The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has officially declared as fake a letter circulating on social media that purports to list 50 secondary schools whose 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results were withheld due to examination malpractice. The council issued the denial on Wednesday, August 5, through its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, asking the public to disregard the document entirely.
WAEC's Official Denial
In a post accompanied by an image of the forged letter with a bold red "FAKE" stamp overlaid on it, WAEC wrote: "FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please disregard the message below. It did not originate from WAEC." The council emphasized that the document was not from its office and urged candidates, parents, and schools to rely only on official announcements.
Details of the Forged Letter
The forged letter, dated August 2, 2026, was addressed to heads of both public and private secondary schools across Nigeria. It alleged that candidates from 50 named schools had their results withheld due to examination malpractice and instructed those schools to submit detailed reports within 14 days or face further sanctions. Schools in several states, including Lagos and Abuja, appeared on the list. To lend it credibility, the forged letter bore what looked like WAEC's official letterhead and stamps, and was falsely signed in the name of Dr Amos Dangut, the Head of the WAEC Nigeria National Office.
Context: Genuine Withholding of Results
The fake letter surfaced on the same day WAEC announced the release of results from the 2026 Computer-Based WASSCE for school candidates. In that official announcement, the council confirmed it had genuinely withheld the results of 167,486 candidates, which represented 8.59 per cent of the 1,950,726 candidates who sat the examination. According to WAEC, the withheld results were linked to a range of infractions, including the use of mobile phones inside examination halls in violation of an existing ban, as well as evidence of organised cheating in a number of schools.
Supervisors and Invigilators Under Scrutiny
The council also disclosed that some supervisors and invigilators caught assisting candidates to cheat had been arrested and would face disciplinary proceedings through the relevant state ministries of education. WAEC did not name any of the schools affected by the legitimate result withholding, making the timing of the fake letter particularly misleading to candidates and parents anxious about their results.
Government's Shift to CBT
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the federal government revealed plans to utilise both privately owned and public computer-based testing (CBT) centres across the country to conduct the SSCE starting in 2026. Education minister, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this after observing a trial run of the CBT for SSCE conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO) at Sascon International School in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city. Alausa praised NECO for executing the CBT SSCE pilot phase smoothly and announced plans to relocate future school-based SSCEs to designated CBT centres outside school premises.
Advice to Candidates and Parents
WAEC has advised candidates and parents to verify any information regarding results through official channels. The council's official website and social media handles remain the only reliable sources for announcements. Candidates whose results were genuinely withheld are encouraged to contact their schools for further guidance on the process of appeal or clarification, as WAEC has not provided a public list of affected schools.
