Row grows over alleged forgery of JAMB result

Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, who was accused by the Joint Administration and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of forging her result to emerge the highest scorer, is not seeking legal redress, her father Romanus Ejikeme said yesterday.

Mr. Ejikeme refuted media reports that his daughter had dragged JAMB to court, demanding N20 billion for alleged misrepresentation of facts.

He insisted that the 362 score presented by Mmesoma was her authentic result, and rejected any other score from the exam body.

Describing JAMB’s conduct in the allegation as unfortunate, Ejikeme insisted that his family had left the matter to God who alone could grant them justice.

He added that his family was not interested in vengeance; rather all it wanted was for the exam body to come clean.

“They should stop defending themselves and tell the whole world the truth,” Ejikeme told The Nation.

The erstwhile student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi in Anambra, was accused by JAMB on Sunday evening of manually inflating her UTME score.

JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, in a statement, said Mmesoma claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME, but actually scored 249.

A section of the media was awash with a claim on Monday that Mmesoma was also seeking an injunction barring JAMB and its personnel from issuing any further comments on the alleged forged results till further notice.

But Ejikeme said although Mmesoma was inconsolable that not only was her result allegedly altered, but she was also being falsely accused for what she did not do, nevertheless, the court rumour was untrue.

Ejikeme said: “I’m a commercial motorcyclist but majorly a musician. We moved to Nnewi three years ago from Oba. But my daughter did her primary school in Ogbunike Central School where she was topping her class till she moved over to Oba where she still maintained first position.

“When we relocated to Nnewi and had to transfer her to her present school, her teachers and classmates in Oba school were calling her, crying that her absence was affecting the school because she used to represent the school in various competitions.

“The principal even called me requesting to be paying for my daughter’s transport to and from Nnewi to be attending her school. But I declined the offer. That’s to tell you the extent they cherished my daughter due to her extraordinary performance.”

According to him, Mmesoma was not only brilliant but also modest.

He said: “Meanwhile, she doesn’t take pride in her performance because it’s not anything to her. Mmesoma has always been a hardworking and studious student who doesn’t joke with her studies. She entered the present school from SS1 (Senior Secondary 1) after writing her Junior WAEC (West African Examinations Council exam) in Oba. Her results are there for anyone to see. It’s a public school.

“The 362 score she got is what she saw in the SMS sent to her by JAMB, after sending her code to the portal. That’s the same score she had been parading with for over two months before this controversy came up.”

Describing JAMB’s delay in releasing “the authentic results” of the highest scorer as deliberate, Ejikeme urged the exam body to come clean.

He said: “I’m surprised that JAMB kept quiet all this while, until now that they came up with another result. But what I’ve discovered as a father is that JAMB deliberately delayed coming up with the allegations so as to come up with something they would use to defend themselves.

“The new score they’re claiming my daughter got is not her result. Unfortunately, the same people that were supposed to offer her an award for coming out tops are pulling her down.

“My daughter has been weeping all these while and we’ve been consoling her that nothing is too hard for God to do. She’s not happy that her result was not only altered but she’s being falsely accused of what she did not do.

“How can they accuse my daughter of such allegations when she doesn’t work with JAMB? When journalists come to interview her, one of the questions I ask them is, does the person you’re interviewing look fraudulent? For me, it’s only a dullard that can engage in such a crime.”

He described Mmesoma as studious.

Ejikeme added: “My daughter studies so hard that even when you ask her to go to bed late at night, she will insist on reading more. Because she wants to study Medicine and Surgery, she rarely sleeps, especially during exams. So after all the stress, someone will say her result was forged.

“On what we intend doing, there’s nothing else we can do than to insist JAMB should tell us the truth. They should stop defending themselves and tell the whole world the truth. Even if my daughter is asked to sit for this exam repeatedly, I’m sure she will still come out best. She’s my daughter. She has never taken second in class.

Read Also: Charly Boy to JAMB: provide Mmesoma’s paper for re-mark

“Besides, all my children, two girls and boys, are all brilliant. You can go and inquire from their teachers if you so wish. Just that we don’t make noise about it, just like I earlier said. Even the (Governor Charles) Soludo panel set up should go ahead with the investigation. I’m not ready to engage the services of lawyers; let justice be done.”

But JAMB doubled down on its position saying Nigerians would be shocked if it revealed details of the alleged forgery.

Its Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, said the result paraded by Ejikeme was the template for a student who sat for UTME two years ago.

In an interview with Premium Times, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin said: “If you scan the code, the candidate’s result will show.

“So I can say emphatically that the girl is parading a fake result. It is either she is being duped, or she is part of a syndicate manufacturing purported JAMB results.

“There are security features on our results, so I can emphasise that the girl is just trying to deceive the public. Her result is completely fake. Her claim that she printed the result from our site is a lie, and totally incorrect.

“If we should reveal all that we know, people will be shocked. So, if people are looking for shortcuts to achieve an end, that is what would happen.”

JAMB said the matter had nothing to do with its system, saying nobody hacked into its system and that the result did not emanate from its system.

“The result she is holding is completely fake because we are able to track everything printed from our system,” he said.

Also speaking, Mrs. Uchekwukwu Edum, Principal of Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS), Nnewi, where Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme is studying, expressed surprise at the announcement discrediting her score.

She said the school was awaiting the outcome of a detailed investigation by the Department of States Services (DSS) when the news of the alleged forgery was broken on Sunday.

Police spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga said the matter had not been reported to the police in the state.

“We are not aware of the case. So, I can’t comment on the issue”, Tochukwu stated.

When The Nation visited the Anglican Bishop’s court, Diocese of Nnewi, which owns the school, Education Secretary, Ven Henry Ndukuba, declined comment, disclosing that the church had scheduled a press conference today where the matter would be duly addressed.

Also yesterday the National Association of Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) condemned JAMB’s decision to bar Mmesoma from sitting the UTME for the next three years, saying the body did not

carry out due diligence before taking the step.

The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, called for the composition of a ‘Common Committee’, to resolve the controversy over the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of Mmesoma’s result.

According to the ASUU boss, the board would not have found itself in this current situation if it had restricted itself to just conducting the examination and forwarding the results of candidates who subscribed to the respective institutions of higher learning.

Also, Prof Bola Oboh, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics and Research) University of Lagos, told NAN that there was a need for an in-depth investigation.

But a one-time Education Minister, Prof. Chinwe Obaji described the development as disturbing, stating that JAMB may be right with its position on the matter, judging from past antecedents.

For the Youth Wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, JAMB can put the matter to rest by testing Mmesoma with another examination

A civil society group, The Network for the Actualisation of Social Growth and Viable Development (NEFGAD) also weighed in, describing the controversy as a national embarrassment.

But the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) chided JAMB for accusing Mmesoma of manipulating her UTME result, saying the accusation had undermined the pupil’s reputation and disregarded her rights as a child, as outlined in the Child Rights Act of 2003.

Also, a legal practitioner, Johnmary Maduakolam asked JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede to apologise to Mmesoma or face legal action, for allegedly failing to discharge its duty to the girl child under the Child’s Right Act.

Meanwhile, Deeper Life High School yesterday celebrated the “JAMB best candidate”, Miss Nkechinyere Umeh and other students of the school that scored 300 and above in the 2023 UTME organised by JAMB.

JAMB, on June 24, confirmed Umeh came top in the 2023 UTME with a cumulative mark of 360.