The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has withheld the results of 401 candidates suspected to have been involved in various examination malpractices during the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates.

This follows the release of the examination results for private candidates who sat the WASSCE in 2020.

A statement issued by the Council said: “A total of 51,914 candidates made up of 24,649 males and 27,265 females sat the examination; 3,688 of the candidates were absent”.

“The entire results of 401 candidates suspected to have been involved in various examination malpractices, have been withheld pending conclusion of investigations”.

“These suspected examination malpractices include impersonation, collusion among candidates, bringing foreign materials and mobile phones into the examination hall.”

According to the WAEC, “the withheld results will be released or cancelled as soon as the Council concludes its investigations.”

The Council urged candidates who sat the exam to access their results online.

It further cautioned “members of the public to be on the alert for fraudsters who contact candidates with the promise of upgrading their results for a fee.”

WAEC assured, “all stakeholders that the Council’s results database is well-secured, as such, all forged results can be detected by the confirmation/verification system, which has been made available to institutions and organisations.”