The Ondo State Public Complaints, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption Commission (OSPFACC) has summoned and grilled two academics at the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic (RUGIPO), Owo, following mounting accusations of falsified examination results and a deliberate institutional cover-up.
The affected personnel include Mr. Oluwasegun Olowoyo, a Communication-in-English instructor in the Languages Department, and Mr. Segun Aminu, who previously served as Head of the same department.
The probe was triggered by a petition dated January 29, 2026, channelled through the office of the Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
The petition levelled charges of academic misconduct, administrative impropriety and suppression of whistleblower rights against certain staff members and the polytechnic’s top management.
Central to the allegations is a claim that Mr. Olowoyo unlawfully entered a grade for a student identified as Fademiluyi in GNS 202 (Communication in English), despite the student never appearing for the examination.
A second lecturer, Mr. Oladiran Akindiyo of the Public Administration Department, similarly faces accusations of circumventing laid-down academic protocols to doctor results.
The petition also painted a disturbing picture of an administration that protected those behind the irregularities while punishing departmental heads who dared to resist them.
The dismissal of certain Heads of Department was characterised as an act of vindictiveness and a gross misuse of institutional authority.
Appearing before the commission, Mr. Olowoyo openly conceded that he had entered the name and score of an absent student into official records, though he maintained that he was coerced into doing so.
In his words: “I did not set out to involve myself in academic fraud. I was approached in 2025 by the chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP), Mr. Saka Olakungboye, through my former HOD, Mr. Aminu, to help insert the name and score of a student who had a carryover.”
He disclosed that his initial refusal eventually gave way under relentless pressure, partly out of concern that the student would lose an entire academic session if the situation remained unresolved.
He further stated: “I was the one who inserted her name on the score sheet. It was under very serious pressure. I deeply regret my action. I did not request or receive any personal or material benefit. It was a period of poor professional judgment under pressure, which I have learnt from. I appeal to the commission to temper justice with mercy.”
Investigations also revealed that Mr. Aminu, the erstwhile Languages Department chief, was equally summoned to shed light on his alleged role in orchestrating pressure on the lecturers, given that his name surfaced prominently in the accusations.
Nevertheless, Mr. Aminu flatly rejected any suggestion that he facilitated contact between Mr. Olakungboye and Mr. Olowoyo, or that he was aware of the manipulation beforehand.
In his defence, he stated: “I did not introduce Mr. Olakungboye to Olowoyo. I want to state categorically that I never knew anything about the result that came up and I did not introduce anyone to him.
He recounted that his first awareness of the controversy came through a colleague who flagged concerns over the student’s scores.
He subsequently constituted a panel and called in Mr. Olowoyo, who at first disclaimed any knowledge of the result and declined to append his signature, attributing the document to a different department.
“Later, he brought a result sheet containing the student’s name and claimed she wrote the examination. I was in my office when Olowoyo brought the sheet and said he prepared it,” Aminu recounted.
He insisted that once the anomaly came to light, proper procedures were immediately set in motion.
Reacting to the unfolding controversy, OSPFACC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Adewole Adeyeye, condemned the tampering with academic records in the strongest terms, describing it as a profound ethical and legal violation with far-reaching consequences for the institution’s credibility.
According to him: “The falsification of marks for a student is a grave offence in our institutions. It raises serious ethical and legal concerns. No lecturer must involve himself in such a heinous act under any circumstance.”
He cautioned that permitting fraudulently obtained grades to go unchallenged would steadily hollow out academic standards and ultimately diminish the value of certificates held by deserving graduates.
Prof. Adeyeye gave a firm assurance that every person linked to the scandal would face questioning, irrespective of rank or position, emphasising that the investigation remains active and that prosecution awaits anyone established to have played a culpable role.
The lecturer at the centre of the controversy has been released on bail as the commission presses forward with its enquiries.
