UMTE score saga: NAPTAN faults JAMB over Mmesoma’s 3-yr ban

 

 

Pamela Eboh, Awka

 

The National Association of Parent- Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has condemned the decision by the  Joint Admission and  Matriculation  Board (JAMB), to bar Miss  Ejikeme Mmesoma from sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME)for the next three years.

 

Chief  Adeolu Ogunbanjo, National Deputy Chairman of NAPTAN, condemned the examination body’s action  in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.

 

 

JAMB had, in a statement  on Tuesday, announced  Mmesona’s ban,accusing the Anambra student of falsifying  her 2023 UTME result slip.

 

Mr Fabian Benjamin, the board’s Acting Director ,Press and Publicity,who issued the statement  ,said  JAMB took the decision after establishing that Mmesoma did not score 362 in the examination as claimed ,but actually scored  249.

 

Benjamin added that what Mmesoma was parading was the falsified copy of the result slip of one Asimiyu Miriam Omobolanle,who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138.

 

Reacting ,Ogunbanjo described JAMB’s decision as hasty, saying  the body did not  carry out due diligence before taking the step.

 

 

 

“We think JAMB’s decision is hasty. The board should have carried out more due diligence ,more discreet investigation before coming up with the ban.

 

“We are not particularly at home with JAMB’s approach on this whole issue, although it is  an unfortunate development”, he said.

 

Ogunbanjo also said that JAMB did not do well for inviting the DSS to arrest the student even  when investigation had not been concluded.

 

He urged to JAMB to handle the matter carefully  as  it could be a case of hacking .

 

“UTME is a technology- driven exercise so there could be hacking just like any other technology could as well be hacked,” Ogunbanjo said.

 

He ,however ,said the case was an eye opener with some positive lessons.

 

“Students or people who may have  been doing this in the past or planning to have their way through this dubious means, should have a rethink because this issue  has served as an eye opener,” he said.

 

.We have no plans of suing JAMB – Mmesoma’s father

 

 

Mr Romanus Ejikeme, father to Mmesoma who was accused of forging her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result, says the family has no plan to sue the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

 

Ejikeme told journalists who visited his house at Nnewi on Tuesday, that the family had left everything to God to judge.

 

He insisted that her daughter did not forge her results saying that she was a hardworking and studious student who did not joke with her studies.

 

He said: “My daughter studies so hard that even when you ask her to go to bed late in the night, she will insist on reading more because she wants to study Medicine and Surgery.

 

“After all the stress, someone will say her result was forged. I have no doubt about this matter. I’m sure my daughter did not forge the result and we are ready to go to any length to prove it.

 

“I only feel bad that after what my daughter has gone through reading for the exams, that she is being denied her legitimate score.

 

“Since this allegation of my daughter forging her JAMB result broke out, both my wife and my daughter have been feeling very sad. My daughter is traumatized.

 

“We want a diligent investigation into this matter.”

 

Recall that Mmesoma Ejikeme, who has been parading a JAMB result with the score of 362, and said to be the highest scorer has been dismissed by JAMB as being fake.

 

The board said the student forged her result, withdrew her original result as well as banned her from taking the exams for three years. (NAN)

 

. Good Samaritan offers Mmesoma international scholarship

 

 

The travails of Ejikeme Mmesoma, the student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State, who was accused of inflating her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result may be the channel to her glory as a Good Samaritan offers to give her scholarship.

The man, Mr Gaius Chibueze from Enugu State has offered Mmesoma a fully funded international scholarship to study in either of three countries, UK, Canada or USA.

Mr. Chibueze announced this through his verified Twitter account on Monday night.”

His words, “I and our company @VoiceOfTheEast are ready to offer Miss Joy Mmesoma a 100% scholarship to study in the UK, Canada or the United States of  America.

“Our team will work with her to get admission from any university of her choice in any of the above 3 countries.

“We will take 100% charge of her fees and upkeep until her masters level”.

Meanwhile, the JAMB spokesperso. Fabian Benjamin  had in a statement said that the student, who was widely celebrated for scoring 362 and said to be the highest for 2023 UTME, actually scored 249 in the exam.

He alleged that the student tampered with the original result to curry favour.

 

Benjamin subsequently announced that the result would be withdrawn while Mmesoma would face prosecution.

But Mmesoma who spoke on Monday, said she printed her result from JAMB portal, adding that she was not capable of forging her result.

She said she had always been a brilliant pupil, who had secured first position from primary school days.

Mmesoma further said she was invited by the Department of State Services (DSS) where her statement was taken, and she was told that investigation was ongoing.

She said she felt traumatised by the incident, adding that, “there must be problem somewhere”.