Nigeria, May 9 -- The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Is-haq Oloyede, has defended the examination body's handling of controversies involving hijab-wearing candidates at Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) centres, saying many of the incidents were either misunderstood or exaggerated.

Mr Oloyede spoke during a public engagement with Muslims where he addressed recurring allegations that female Muslim candidates were forced to remove their hijabs before entering examination halls.

In a video shared on Facebook, the registrar said investigations conducted by JAMB showed that none of the affected candidates was ultimately prevented from sitting examinations because of the hijab.

His remarks c...