“This Is Not My UTME Result!” — Father Recounts Daughter’s Last Words Before Suicide

Femi Opesusi, the grieving father of 19-year-old Timilehin Opesusi, who died by suicide after receiving a low score in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), is demanding that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) release what he calls his daughter’s “actual” exam result.

Timilehin, who lived with her older sister in Ikorodu, Lagos, was one of the over 300,000 candidates affected by a now-confirmed “technical error” in this year’s UTME. She had scored 146 out of 400, a result she reportedly insisted was not hers, repeatedly telling her father: “Daddy, this is not my result.”

According to Mr. Opesusi, his daughter had scored 190 in the previous year’s UTME and had prepared confidently for this year’s exam. He said he tried to console her over the unexpected result, assuring her he would address it. But just hours later, Timilehin ingested a sachet of rodenticide known as “Push Out.” She was rushed to the hospital by her sister but could not be saved.

In an exclusive interview with Channels Television, Mr. Opesusi accused JAMB of altering the result after his daughter’s death gained media attention. “JAMB should give me the actual result of my daughter, not the one they have tampered with,” he said emotionally. “If not, God will judge.”

Timilehin’s tragic death has drawn national attention to the integrity of the examination process and the mental toll it exerts on young Nigerians. Her passing sparked widespread outrage, with students and parents reporting anomalies in scores and questioning JAMB’s credibility.

Initially, JAMB stood by its results. However, amid mounting pressure, the Registrar of the Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, on May 14, publicly admitted that 379,997 candidates across 157 centres—mostly in Lagos and the South-East—were affected by a “glitch” in the system. “We are human; we are not perfect,” he said during a tearful apology, announcing a mop-up exam which began on May 16.

Despite JAMB observing a minute of silence in Timilehin’s honour, her family says they have received no personal outreach from the board. “They have never called me, they have never granted me an interview. I don’t want to see them. What I want is the actual result of my daughter,” Mr. Opesusi said, adding that no government official has contacted the family either.

Out of nearly two million candidates who sat for the 2025 UTME, only 12,414 scored 300 and above, while more than 78 percent scored below 200. The controversy has since escalated, with the South-East Caucus of the 10th House of Representatives calling for the resignation of the JAMB Registrar, labelling the situation a “national shame.”