UTME top scorer: I’m traumatised, says Ejikeme, student accused of forging result

Student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State, Ejikeme Mmesoma, who was accused of inflating her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, has broken her silence, saying that she’s traumatised by the statement from JAMB.

In a statement on Sunday Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesperson, had said the student, who was widely celebrated for scoring 362 anr said to be the highest for 2023 UTME, actually scored 249 in the exam.

Benjamin had said the student tampered with the original result to curry favour.

He subsequently announced that the result would be withdrawn while Mmesoma would face prosecution.

But speaking on Monday, the student said she printed her result from JAMB portal, adding that she was not capable of forging her result.

According to Journalist101 news portal, Ejikeme said she had always been a brilliant pupil, who had secured first position from primary school days.

Mmesoma 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”.

“I’m the owner of this result. I went to the JAMB portal to print this result and this is what they gave me. This is the result here. So, this is my aggregate; 362. This is exactly how I printed it.

“They now saying that I forged my result is what I don’t know and I am traumatized that they accused me of forging my own results because I am not capable of this.”

“They scanned the QR code, there and it showed another name (Omotola Afolabi 138) and that same person that got 138, they checked again and the person got 338, meaning that there is a problem somewhere.

“My principal and I went to the Commissioner of Education office last Friday. We showed the result to the commissioner of education and she snapped it and sent it to the JAMB officials. They called back saying it is a forged result, that I forged it myself that JAMB don’t have record of it.

“They called the DSS over to their office. The DSS took us to their office and we made our statement there. They said we would be contacted later after investigating the result where it came from.

 

“Instead of them to wait for the investigation to be over, they posted that I forged my result without confirming. I’m really sad. Since my nursery school I have been taking first. I scored over 300 in my common entrance. I’m a brilliant girl. I am not an illiterate that would forge results.”

However, There seems a new twist to the “Fake” JAMB top scorer saga, following the intervention of the family of Mmesoma Ejikeme, the student in question and her former school.

According to an online news portal, thenetwork.ng the family and school authority of 16-year-old Miss Mmesoma, the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Matriculation Tertiary Examination (UMTE), have demanded immediate release of findings of fake result saga under investigation.

Mmesoma recently scored 362 in the UTME but the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which conducts the UTME, had declared Mmesoma’s 362 UTME score as fake.

The board revealed that her score was manually inflated, as her original score was 249. JAMB also announced the immediate withdrawal of Mmesoma’s UTME score.

Reacting, Romanus Ejikeme, the girl’s father and her school principal, Mrs. Egum Uchechukwu said that Mmesoma is a brilliant child.

The both called for a thorough investigation on the matter so as not destroy her life and tarnish educational pursuit.

They jointly call on the DSS to release result of its finding on the allegation, wondering why JAMB went to the social media to dent the girl’s image without allowing DSS conclude investigation.

“My daughter started taking first position in her class right from nursery school, and continued even in her secondary school at Girls Secondary School, Oba, Anambra state.

“Now, at Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, she is still top in her class in the senior class.

“Her ordeal started when in the released result by JAMB this year, she scored 362 and emerged the overall best. She did not even know, but was informed by those who saw it online.

“She was even confused because she did not know the outcome of the score before people started congratulating her. Calls from coming from everywhere, then she went to check her result and saw her score that she was the overall best .

“There was celebration everywhere that my daughter has made it, but this is the fate she later found herself. They sent DSS after her, using the outcome of the result to intimidate her and the entire family,” Ejikeme said.

He debunked the statement from the state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh that his daughter came to the ministry late when she was invited on Friday (June 30, 2023).

 

“She went with her school officials to the state ministry of education, Awka on time on same date on invitation. We find out that Miss Nkechinyere Umeh, who scored 360, was honoured, and not her that scored 362. She did not delay, we were at Awka on time.

 

“At the commissioner’s office, we saw that DSS was already invited to investigate the matter,” Ejikeme said.

 

Corroborating the Mmesoma’s father, her school principal, Mrs. Egum Uchechukwu also called for a thorough investigation into the matter to clear the girl’s image.

 

“Let the DSS do their investigation and tell us. The commissioner for education should help to follow up the investigation, we were in her office, and the issue of DSS came up.

 

“I won’t allow her to suffer because she is a good girl. They promised to investigate the case, let them do their investigation. We made a statement, giving them necessary information,” she said.

 

Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, commissioner for education had insisted that Nkechinyere Umeh who scored 360 is the best in JAMB  result and so honoured on Friday.

 

“The person we are honouring is Nkechinyere, who scored 360, I read in the Facebook that Mmesoma scored 362. It took Mmesoma time to bring her result to my office, by that time people were already calling us that we are trying to honour the wrong person.

 

“Eventually she came to my office, brought her result and DSS pick her up from my office. We already honoured the right person, Nkechinyere Umeh who scored 360.

 

“But this girl came claiming that she scored 362. On inquiry, I had to invite her and her principal to my office, when they came to my office I called JAMB who said they discovered that what she had was not the real result,” Chuma-Udeh said.

.as  Anambra institutes panel of inquiry

However, The Government of Anambra State has instituted a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Education Commissioner, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh who disclosed this at a media chat, regretted that the development was very embarrassing, coming at a time when the Charles Soludo-led administration is repositioning in her avowed determination to get education right in the State.

 

Confusion has arisen on who between Mmesoma Ejikeme and Nkechiyere Umeh, both from Anambra, is the highest scorer in the UTME. JAMB had on Sunday, disowned the result paraded by Mmesoma.

Meanwhile the Anambra State Government has continued to celebrate Nkechinyere Umeh, who was declared the highest by JAMB, having scored a cumulative mark of 360, while security agents are investigating the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Ejikeme Mmesoma, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest.

 

JAMB had while announcing the confusion on Mmesoma’s score, threatened to withdraw her actual results for allegedly falsely announcing herself as the top-scorer of the computer-based test used to rank candidates seeking admissions into Nigerian universities.

According to the Board, Miss Mmesoma’s actual score in the test was 249 and not the 362 she claimed to have scored.

 

The Board stated: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to several publications in both print and online media celebrating certain candidates for being high scorers in the 2023 UTME.

 

“The Board is constrained to set the records straight and wishes to state unequivocally that many of the results which many of these candidates are parading are fake.”

 

JAMB said the candidate’s ‘fake result’ was exposed when a top official of the Anambra State Government reached out to JAMB for confirmation of the claim ahead of a planned honour.

..We stand by Mmesoma for now– Innoson

Following the N3million scholarship given by the management of Innoson Automobile Company to Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme for being the highest scorer in 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the company has insisted on standing by the student for now.

JAMB had on Sunday, July 2, accused Ejikeme Mmesoma of manually inflating her score from 249 to 362 and parading herself as the top scorer.

But Innoson appears to have picked holes in the allegation by the JAMB) of result manipulation against Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, saying that it is strange to hear this.
The company said that it carried out its independent verification after the claims and found out that Mmesoma scored 362 when her result was printed.
According to NAN, this was made known by the Head of Corporate Communications at Innoson Group, Cornel Osigwe, during an interview on Monday in Onitsha.
Osigwe stated that the N3 million scholarship awarded to Mmesoma by Innoson Automobile Company will still stand if she is found to be innocent of the allegation by JAMB of result manipulation.
Our scholarship might still stand
Osigwe said, “It is strange to us because we did our independent verification and found out that Mmesoma Ejikeme scored 362 when we printed her result.
“When it was claimed that she was the highest, we waited for JAMB to come and clarify it, but they did not and the media was publishing that she was the highest.
“We also waited to see if there was going to be a counterclaim, but since there was no counterclaim, we awarded her the scholarship as the highest scorer.
“On Sunday, it was reported that JAMB claimed that she manipulated her result. We are doing our independent investigation as we speak to know if she manipulated her result or if the fault was from JAMB.
“If we find out that the girl manipulated her result for obvious reasons, we will withdraw the scholarship.
“But if we find out that the mistake was actually from JAMB; that they were the ones that awarded her the score, or probably did a review and found out that her actual score was 249, then our scholarship will still stand.”
Osigwe advised Ejikeme not to panic during this period of investigation, saying that they can carry out a proper investigation to unravel the truth.
He further stressed that if they find out that she is innocent of the allegation, whether she scored the highest or not, the scholarship will still stand.
The examination body said she manipulated her UTME result to deceive the public to fraudulently obtain a scholarship and other recognitions, adding that it will withdraw her certificate and prosecute her.

.Halt candidates’ manipulation of results – VC urges JAMB

The Vice Chancellor, Salem University Lokoja, Prof. Alewo Johnson-Akubo, has urged the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to urgently checkmate candidates’ manipulation of results.

The vice chancellor, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Monday, said that suppressing such would save the education standard from dwindling.

Recall that JAMB, in a statement on Sunday said it had withdrawn the result of a candidate of the just-released Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result over alleged manipulation of her scores.

The board had claimed that one Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, inflated her result and announced that she scored 362 in the 2023 UTME.

She was awarded a three N3 million naira scholarship by Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman, Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing company and was about to be honoured by the Anambra Government before she was exposed.

According to Johnson-Akubo, this development is not good for the image of JAMB and Nigeria as a nation.

He said that the board should rise to the occasion and nip the evil in the bud before it affected the educational standard.

“Certainly, this is a cankerworm that must not be allowed to dwindle our educational standard nor give Nigeria a bad image before the international community.

“It also means that our universities should equally ensure they do thorough investigation into the status of all candidates admitted for programmes to deprive such manipulators from having their ways.

“For us in Salem University Lokoja, JAMB discovery is a blessing to us; more so that we just ended our 2022/2023 academic session with a thanksgiving on Sunday, and has commenced admission into programmes for the 2023/2024 session,’’ he said.

Johnson-Akubo, however, said that beginning from July 3, applications into the university’s fully accredited programmes such as Law, Accounting, Mass Communication, Geology and Computer Science would be welcome.”

He advised interested candidates to inculcate the fear of God and truthfulness as they applied for any of the institution’s programmes to avoid issues with the management.