The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has banned Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, who is embroiled in the result controversy in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The candidate would not be allowed to write the examinations for three years, JAMB said on Monday.
JAMB said it has also cancelled the controversial result that announced Ejikeme as the candidate with the highest score in the examinations. In a statement on Monday, JAMB’s Head of Protocol and Public Affairs, Dr. Fabian Benjamin said the result was fake and falsified using internet software. The examination board alleged that the candidate inflated her actual score at the examinations from 249 to 362.
In a video message on Monday, Ejikeme said: “They are just trying to harass me and my family. After the results were released over two months ago, why is it taking them this long to say what they are saying now? Now, using the QR code is indicating another name – Omotola Afolabi – which initially showed a score of 138 and, later, 338. Somebody cannot have two different results from the same examination.
“I cannot do what they are accusing me of. I have been a brilliant girl from my Nursery School days. I scored over 300 in my common entrance examination to secondary school”.
Also, the Anambra State Government has set up a panel of inquiry into the controversy. Ejikeme is a student in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh announced the panel’s assignment in a statement in Awka, the state capital on Monday.
She said that she was the one that raised the alarm after the girl honoured an invitation in the process of the plan by the state government to honour her.
Chuma-Udeh said that after Mmesoma’s result was published online, she invited the girl for recognition by the state government, adding that when Mmesoma brought her result, she observed that it was not directly from the JAMB printout.
According to her, it was at that point that she became suspicious, which made her get in touch with JAMB to confirm the result, stating that she was taken aback when JAMB told her that what was circulating was not its result.
She said it was at that point that her ministry turned back the girl, while JAMB began an investigation into the matter.
This development came as the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who earlier announced a N3 million scholarship to the girl, said she could no longer access the fund until the investigation is completed.
Describing the revelation as very unfortunate, Chukwuma said he was excited when he heard that the young girl came tops in the UTME, especially when he found out that she studied in a public school.
He said: “When I was told that a student of a public school recorded the highest score in the JAMB examination, I sent for the principal of the school and the principal confirmed to me that it was true that the girl scored the mark.
“I said to myself that such a brilliant girl if properly educated, will be beneficial to our country and the world at large, so I decided to award her a scholarship so that nothing will stop her from attaining a university education.
“When I awarded her the scholarship, I deposited 3,000,000 in a dedicated bank account and told the principal that the money is strictly meant for Mmesoma’s education in the university, which means that any time she needs to pay any fee in the school, they will let me know so that I will sign for withdrawal of the money from the account”.
Incidentally, JAMB said the highest scorer in the last UTME is also from Anambra State like Mmesoma. He is Umeh Nkechinyere with 360 marks.
JAMB’s statement on Monday, signed by Benjamin, read: “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is, hereby, restating its earlier position that the UTME result being paraded by Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma is patently fake.
“Consequently, the Board would like to reassure Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised as the candidate simply falsified a copy of a result slip of a candidate named ‘Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle’, who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138.
“It is also instructive to note that the candidate, in her statement, has inadvertently revealed the rightful owner of the result she is parading when she pointed out that the QR code on the result slip showed the actual owner of the said result before she peddled a lie in an attempt to obfuscate the truth.
“To witness the unassailable position of the Board regarding this obvious falsehood, the general public is, therefore, urged to endeavour to scan the QR code on the result slip to see its actual owner before it was mutilated.
“It is to be noted that the QR code encapsulates the UTME result of each candidate, hence, what is on the result sheet is nothing other than the interpretation of the information on this QR code.
“Furthermore, the public is also to note that the Board stopped issuing Notification of Result slips in 2021 for the simple reason that candidates were falsifying them. Consequently, the Board had resorted to issuing actual UTME RESULT Slip (not its notification) since 2022 complete with the photograph of candidates.
“Similarly, the public is also invited to ponder on the fact that out of all the candidates that sat the 2023 UTME, only Ms. Ejikeme Mmesoma parades the obsolete ‘Notification of Result.’
“The Board remains unperturbed by this unfortunate development as this is not the first time such fraudulent claims have been made. As such, Nigerians are urged to recall numerous occasions where the Board was sued for billions of naira only for the lawyers to later apologise profusely for their clients’ misadventure. Prominent among these is the case of a candidate, John Chinedu Ifesinachi, who, in 2021, sued the Board for N2b only for him and his counsel to tender unreserved apology when the candidate eventually confessed his crime in the face of incontrovertible facts.
“This case has, therefore, being rightly handed over to relevant security agencies for thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of yet another unfortunate scam. The Board is not averse to public scrutiny and hereby suggests a public session with relevant security agencies, representatives of Ms. Ejikeme and civil society organisations in attendance without delay. This is on account of the Board’s experience over the years, which showed that these wily candidates confessed to their ignoble acts only when confronted with incontestable facts.
“Another frightening dimension to the unfolding drama is the unwholesome interest of some nefarious elements, who to all intents and purposes, are determined to goad the candidate on this unproductive path as any casual observer would observe with the obviously stage-managed video aired by Ms. Ejikeme. The Board urges these confusionists to have a rethink as their evil machinations would soon come to light.
“Again, the Board restates its readiness for genuine scrutiny as this case would not be the first time and might not even be the last of such shenanigans. At the end of the day, the truth would manifest and the Board vindicated.
“In the meantime, the management of the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with it’s established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years”.
