July 04, (THEWILL) – The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has barred Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma from sitting for its examination for the next three years.
In a statement on Tuesday, JAMB’s Acting Director, Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, insisted that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result being paraded by Mmesoma ”is patently fake.”
THEWILL recalled that Ejikeme Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Uruagu, in Nnewi, had earlier been celebrated for emerging top scorer in the 2023 UTME.
JAMB, in a statement on Sunday, accused Mmesoma of inflating her actual result from 249 to 362.
However, the candidate, on Monday, in a new viral video, denied manipulating her result and insisted there might have been a possible technical malfunction from the board’s system.
Mmesoma also insisted that what she has, was original print out from the board’s portal.
But JAMB, in a statement on Tuesday, said its management, “after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, in line with our established procedures, have withdrawn her 2023 UTME result.”
“We have also barred her from sitting for the board’s examination for the next three years.
“Consequently, the board would like to reassure Nigerians that our system was neither tampered with nor compromised.
“The candidate simply falsified a copy of a result slip of a candidate named Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle, who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138.
“It is also instructive to note that the candidate, in her statement, has inadvertently revealed the rightful owner of the result she is parading.
“This she did, when she pointed out that the QR code on the result slip showed the actual owner of the said result before she peddled a lie in an attempt to obfuscate the truth.
“To witness the unassailable position of the board regarding this obvious falsehood, the general public is, therefore, urged to endeavour to scan the QR code on the result slip to see its actual owner before it was mutilated.
“It is to be noted that the QR code encapsulates the UTME result of each candidate, hence, what is on the result sheet is nothing other than the interpretation of the information on this QR code.”
The board further explained that it stopped issuing Notification of Result slips in 2021.
This, JAMB said was for the same reason, that candidates kept falsifying their results through the slips.
JAMB said it has been issuing actual UTME RESULT Slips (not notification of results) since 2022, complete with the photograph of each candidate.
“Similarly, the public is also invited to ponder on the fact that out of all the candidates that sat the 2023 UTME, only Ms. Ejikeme Mmesoma parades the obsolete ‘Notification of Result”, it added.
JAMB said that it has remained unperturbed by the unfortunate development, as this was not the first time such fraudulent claims had been made.
It said: ”This case has, therefore, been rightly handed over to relevant security agencies for thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of yet another unfortunate scam.
“The board is not averse to public scrutiny and hereby suggests a public session with relevant security agencies, representatives of Ms. Ejikeme and civil society organisations in attendance without delay.
“This is on account of the board’s experience over the years, which showed that these wily candidates confessed to their ignoble acts only when confronted with incontestable facts.”
The board said that the candidate was set to be honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its top officials called the attention of the board to confirm her claim.
It further disclosed that the call prompted the board to verify and reveal that Mmesoma had actually scored 249 and not 362, as she claimed, to fraudulently obtain scholarship and other recognitions.
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