The Anambra State government has faulted the position of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the way it has handled the development concerning the University and Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result presented by Mmesoma Ejikeme.
In a statement on Wednesday, the state Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu said that investigation was still ongoing on what transpired about the result when JAMB made a press release condemning the result as being fake.
While JAMB insisted that Mmesoma scored 249 out of 400 in this year’s UTME, the candidate said her print-out showed 362, which would have that the best result in the examinations.
JAMB said that her result is “patently fake”, adding it had withdrawn her result and consequently barred her from writing the examination for the next three years.
Nwosu added that, following the development, an eight-member committee of enquiry has been set up to thoroughly investigate the JAMB/Mmesoma matter and its findings would be made public.
According to him, the committee had Prof. Nkemdili Nnonyelu as Chairman. Other members are Prof. Mercy Okonkwo, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, Prof. Maduabuchi Dukor, Prof. Jaja Nwanegbo, Rev. Sr. Prof. Mary-Felicia Opara, Rev. Cannon Dr. Uchenna Umeifekwem, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, who is the Managing Director, Anambra Information Communication Technology Agency.
The statement read: “The Anambra State Government has, for obvious reasons, been following the JAMB/Mmesoma Ejike matter with keen interest.
“It is important to note that Miss Mmesoma Ejike went to the office of the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh with her UTME result to protest that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board didn’t recognise her as the candidate with the highest score.
“The commissioner in turn called JAMB to confirm her claim, but she was told that Mmesoma’s result was forged”.
Featuring on Wednesday on Channels Television‘s Sunrise Daily, the candidate admitted that her score is 249.
“Yes,” she said to JAMB’s insistence that she scored 249. “After all said and done, I now saw that I got 249. I sent them a text message there to know what really happened — the JAMB Support System. If they go to their system, they will see it there”.
Mmesoma described the three-year ban placed on her by JAMB is “not fair”.
The candidate, who appeared with her father, Romanus said that she should not be blamed for the controversy.
“It’s not my fault that I printed my result like that and they said that I forged my result. It’s not my fault. So, them banning it is not fair”, she said.
Mmesoma said that the only SMS she sent to JAMB was through its support system: “That’s the only SMS I sent there”, she said.
Asked if she got any feedback, she said: “They didn’t reply. If they check their JAMB Support System, they would see that I sent a text message. They didn’t reply”.
On the allegation that she used an Airtel line, Mmesoma replied: “Yes”, but she added it was “not through USSD code.
“The one I checked through the USSD code is the one of 360 that I saw”.
