Trending story of Mmesoma Ejikeme, accused of faking 362 JAMB result

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in a statement on Sunday revealed that Mmesoma Ejikeme manually inflated her UTME result from 249 to 362 and used her manually increased score to attract a N3m scholarship from Innoson Motors and was set to be awarded by the Anambra state government before she was exposed.

The statement read, “The most pathetic of them all is the case of Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME and was awarded a N3m scholarship by Chief (Dr.) Innocent Chukwuma. She was even set to be honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its top officials put a call through to JAMB to confirm her claim only for the Board to reveal that Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma had actually scored 249 and not 362 she claimed. She had manipulated her UTME result to deceive the public to fraudulently obtain a scholarship and other recognitions.”

The statement has sparked various reactions from different sections of the country including the accused student, her father.

Mmesoma’s father reacts

Romanus Ejikeme, father of Mmesoma, who has made headlines recently over allegations that she forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, result, has spoken up on the matter.

He alleged that the move was to thwart the N3 million scholarship awarded to her by the Innoson company.

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He said, “Mmesoma cannot manipulate her UTME score. I don’t believe what they are saying. They just want to transfer that scholarship to another person. That is why they are saying that Mmesoma did not make that score.

“It is even her (Mmesoma) friends that saw her score on the internet and started calling her before she went and printed it out. We have the print-out with us now.”

Meanwhile, Mmesoma herself, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra State, has denied the allegations in a now-viral video on Monday.

“I am the owner of this result. I went to JAMB portal to print this result and this is what they gave me. This is my aggregate, 362. This is exactly how I printed it out and downloaded from the site,” she said.

“So, the fact that they are now saying I forged the result is what I don’t know. I am traumatised that they accused me of forging my own result. This is because I am not capable of forging my own result.

The board said Mmesoma scored 249 in the exam as against the 362 grade she claimed to have gotten and vowed to prosecute the student and others that allegedly manipulated their results in due course.

Anambra state speaks

The Anambra state government had earlier constituted a panel to probe the controversy surrounding the student’s result but Mmesoma in the video showed her physical exam script that validates her acclaimed grade.

“This is the evidence. They said that I forged my result. They can scanned this QR code then and it showed another name. A Yoruba name, Omotola Afolabi, 138. And that same person that scored 138, they checked again, the person score 338. Meaning that there is problem somewhere,” Mmesoma said.

“And we went to the commissioner of education office last week Friday, with my principal and the educational secretary of Anglican Secondary school girls of Anglican Diocese. So, we went there and showed this result to the commissioner of education. She snapped it and sent it to the JAMB officials.

“They called back and said this is a forged result that I forged it myself. That the JAMB office don’t have the record of this.

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“They now said that I forged it and called the DSS over. The DSS took us to their office and we made our statements there and said they will contact us later that they are going to investigate this result to know where the source came from.

“So instead of them to wait for the investigation to be over, they posted that I forged d the result without confirming. I am really sad about it.

“Since my nursery school, I have been taking first. It’s not that I am an illiterate girl to go and forge my result because I’m not intelligent to impress people.

“Even my common entrance it was three hundred and something.”

What a lawyer is saying

Johnmary Maduakolam, has asked the Registrar of the board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and its management to tender an apology to Anambra student, Mmesoma Ejikeme.

The lawyer revealed this known in a letter addressed to Oloyede which was sighted by our correspondent noted that Mmesoma was incapable of forging her own results. He also accused JAMB of failing to protect the identity of the girl.

He said, “I am Chief Johnmary Akachukwu Maduakolam, a legal practitioner and the President of Johnmary Akachukwu Maduakolam Initiative for Education which is a pet project with a special interest in education and holistic development of the young person.

“I am shocked to read from the media a circular issued by one Mr Fabian Benjamin on behalf of JAMB, accusing one Ms. Mmesoma Ejikeme, a minor and a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Nnewi, Anambra State of faking JAMB scores to curry favour from unsuspecting philanthropists. By that publication, JAMB, under your watch, defamed the poor girl, exposed her to public opprobrium, and most especially failed to discharge its duty to the girl child under the Child’s Right Act.”

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Maduakolam in the letter said, “Paradoxically, information available in the media strongly suggests that JAMB, and not the poor girl, is culpable of dishing out fake results but even if the girl forged her results, the law affords her some protection as a child in the circumstance.”

“Sequel to the above, I hereby request your good self, on her behalf, to retract forthwith the malicious publication made against the child, tender an unreserved apology to her and take steps to ensure that the trauma your conduct caused is cushioned immediately.

“Kindly note if you fail, neglect or refuse to harken to my demands for the welfare of the child, I shall drag you to a court and you shall bear its cost.”