An education advocacy group has threatened to take legal action against the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). They have given WAEC 14 days to address issues about the integrity of the 2026 computer-based West African Senior School Certificate Examination (CB-WASSCE).
The Initiative for School Excellence and Education Foundation wants WAEC to preserve examination records. They also want affected candidates to access their electronic records. The group is demanding that WAEC allows independent verification of the computer-based examination and result-processing systems.
Alex Onyia, the Chief Executive Officer of EDU Care, shared the letter from the group’s lawyers on X. He was one of the first to raise concerns about the results after they were released.
"We have now taken legal action against WAEC. WAEC has 14 days to respond and take appropriate action, failing which we will proceed with litigation," Mr Onyia wrote.
The letter, dated 14 August 2026, was signed by Chinwe Onubogu, Principal Partner of Zuriel Law Practice. It was sent to the Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office in Lagos.
This news comes a day after WAEC defended the credibility of the 2026 WASSCE results. This defense followed criticism on social media about the results.
In a statement released on Thursday, WAEC noted a “recent wave of public commentary” questioning the accuracy and credibility of their results. They stated that the results were produced through their established marking, moderation, and auditing processes.
WAEC advised the public to avoid relying on unverified claims. The foundation claims it has received many complaints from candidates about the “accuracy, reliability and verifiability” of their 2026 CB-WASSCE results.
They believe the “scale and nature of concerns warrant objective verification before these results are treated as beyond meaningful challenge.” The group asked WAEC to keep all electronic and documentary records relating to the examination.
This includes candidate response databases, examination session records, system audit trails, server logs, scoring databases, and reports of any technical incidents.
The group also wants affected candidates to access their examination records. This includes their answers, scores, and details of how their final grades were calculated. They also want “records of any manual intervention, correction, adjustment or reprocessing” that may have impacted results.
The foundation is calling for an independent verification involving experts in educational assessment and information technology. They said, "Given the systemic nature of the concerns being reported, our client respectfully proposes that WAEC, in consultation with appropriate independent educational assessment and information-technology experts, establish an independent verification exercise."
The aim of this verification is to check if the 2026 CBE platform and result-processing system operated accurately. The letter states, "The purpose of such verification would not be to substitute external judgment for WAEC’s academic judgment but to determine whether the technological and administrative processes upon which the results depend operated reliably."
The foundation has also asked WAEC for information about the “technical framework governing the 2026 CBE and the measures taken” to see if incidents affected candidates’ results. WAEC released the 2026 WASSCE results on 5 August. The Head of National Office, Amos Dangut, announced the results at a press briefing in Lagos.
The results raised concerns on social media. Some users claimed there were glitches, especially with the computer-based examination. WAEC, though, did not specify which social media claims it was responding to in its Thursday statement.
The council explained that every candidate’s script goes through a multi-tier system of marking, moderation, and auditing, guided by standard marking schemes and overseen by qualified subject experts.
WAEC also mentioned that candidates have channels to raise queries or grievances. According to WAEC, 1,959,668 candidates from 24,207 schools registered for the 2026 examination. Out of these, 1,950,726 candidates sat for it.
The examination took place between 24 April and 19 June. WAEC confirmed that 1,834,695 candidates, or 94.05 percent of those who sat the exam, had their results fully processed and released.
Results for 116,031 candidates, about 5.95 percent, were still being processed when the results were announced. A total of 1,687,378 candidates, or 86.50 percent, got credits in at least five subjects, regardless of English Language and Mathematics.
Of these, 1,200,514 candidates, or 61.54 percent, had credits in at least five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. WAEC also withheld results for 167,486 candidates, representing 8.59 percent, due to alleged examination malpractices.
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