Former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, has waded into the raging controversy between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and one of its former candidates, Mmesoma Ejikeme, over alleged forgery of examination scores.
Ejikeme, who is a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi in Anambra State, was accused by the JAMB of manipulating her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result.
In May, Ejikeme emerged as the candidate with the highest score of 362 in this year’s UTME examination.
With the score, she was celebrated and applauded for the accomplishment, including an award of scholarships into higher institutions.
However, on Sunday JAMB, through its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, controverted Ejikeme’s accomplishment, accusing her of falsifying her result.
The board has also threatened to withdraw the candidate’s 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.
Benjamin said Ejikeme’s real score in the examination was 249 against the 362 score she claimed to have recorded.
On how the examination body uncovered the alleged forgery, Benjamin said Ejikeme sent a text message through JAMB result checking portal for her UTME result after which she manually inflated her scores before pasting same on the 2022 UTME result sheet.
“Unknown to her, the Board had changed the design of the 2023 UTME result sheet. Her original result remains 249 as nothing can change that. With this her ignoble act, Miss Mmesoma would be prosecuted and her original result withdrawn.
“This is not all, as the Board would, in due course, investigate all candidates laying claims to higher scores than they actually obtained. Once discovered, such candidates’ original results would be withdrawn forthwith and they would be handed over to relevant security agencies for prosecution,” Benjamin stated.
Nigerians have been reacting to the controversy, with some disputing the allegation by JAMB against the student.
Some commentators who gave their views their Twitter handles described JAMB’s handling of the matter as “very unprofessional” to rush into the conclusion that the young candidate was a yahoo girl, and even splashed her picture in the media without proper investigations.
Commenting under the Twitter handle, @Spotlight_Abby, one of the commentators said the controversy highlighted the dangers of a single story, adding that all persons linked to the issue should be uncovered and made to account for their roles.
“I had goosebumps watching this young girl speak about the accusations of forgery against her. Imagined myself at her age, and probably not having anyone to speak for me. The trauma is bad enough, but splashing her pixture everywhere without concluding the investigations is horrible,” the commentator said.
Another commentator, D’Maro Ebi, who tweeted his views under the handle, @Ebiblosky, said: “This one is not even something to debate, irrespective of what her real score is, I know that both results were released by JAMB. She did not forge anything. If they (JAMB) made a mistake, they should take responsibility, instead of claiming the girl used a forged result to get scholarship,” he said.
However, after watching the online video of the girl denying the allegations by JAMB against her, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, called for an independent technical investigations into the matter.
Commenting with her verified Twitter handle, @obyezeks, the former World Bank Vice President, stated: “This saga between Mmesoma Ejikeme and @JAMBHQ requires an Independent Tech investigation to unearth all facts. Listening to her in this video, it is reasonable to request a forensic-investigation to help reveal what really happened.
“I have reached out to the Registrar of JAMB. An Independent investigation would turn this curious episode into a Learning Opportunity for @JAMBHQ and everyone, especially students.
“I frankly see no downsides in asking a team of Independent Technology folks to investigate and publicly share their findings. Let’s do it,” she advised.
Meanwhile, the highly traumatised teenager, has dragged JAMB before the court, demanding N20billion compensation for psychological damages suffered as a result of alleged misrepresentation of facts in the matter against her.
Insisting on her innocence, Ejikeme in her application filed on her behalf by her legal representative is seeking the court’s injunction to restrain JAMB and any of its personnel from further issuing any more comments disparaging her reputation on the alleged forged results till further notice.
