Mmesoma Ejikeme: Family of Anambra scholar cries out as JAMB effects three-year ban

Ejikeme Joy Mmesome has been prohibited by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) from taking the UTME for three years due to allegations that her 2023 results were forged.

It asserted that Miss Ejikeme’s results were fake and stated that, as a result, it had discontinued providing Notification of Result slips following the 2021 UTME for the simple reason that applicants were fabricating them.

The board,in a statement to this effect on Tuesday morning, by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin,reassured “Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised as 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.”

The statement read in full, “The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is, hereby, restating its earlier position that the UTME result being paraded by Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma is patently fake.

“Consequently, the Board would like to reassure Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised as 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 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.

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“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.’

“The Board remains unperturbed by this unfortunate development as this is not the first time such fraudulent claims have been made. As such, Nigerians are urged to recall numerous occasions where the Board was sued for billions of naira only for the lawyers to later apologise profusely for their clients’ misadventure.

“In the meantime, the management of the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with it’s established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.”

Earlier on Monday during a media briefing, Mmesoma’s father, Mr. Ejikeme Romanus stated that his daughter had showcased sterling academic brilliance from her nursery school days and always claimed first position in her class, starting from nursery to secondary school.

Ejikeme said, “We are from Oduma in Aninri local government in Enugu state, but we live in Uruagu, Nnewi.

“Mmesoma is my first child. She had always taken first position from the time she was in the nursery school at Ogbunike Central School.

“When she was at Oba Girls’ Secondary School, Mmesoma was representing the school in competitions. So when she changed to Anglican Girls’ Secondary School, her teachers in Oba Girls came and pleaded with me, begging me to retain her in their school; that she is promoting the name of their school.

“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”, Mmesoma’s father added.

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