Sixteen-year-old Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma accused by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of manipulating her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result has denied the allegation.
In a viral video, Mmesoma who said she was traumatised by the allegation also stated that “I am not capable of forging a result.”
She narrated in the video how she obtained the result from JAMB portal and was surprised when she heard stories of forged 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 that site.
“They scanned this QR code there and it showed another name. A Yoruba name Omotola Afolabi, 138. And that same person that got 138, they checked again, the person got 338. Meaning that there is problem somewhere,” Ejikeme who held a copy of the printed result sheet said.
She also stated that she visited the Anambra State commissioner for education, Mrs. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh with the result, along with her principal, on Friday, June 30.
According to her, the commissioner snapped and sent a copy of the printed result to JAMB officials, who claimed that the scores were forged, as they had no record of it.
Ejikeme said officials of the State Security Service (SSS) who were invited to resolve the matter said they would investigate the source of the result.
“Instead of them (JAMB) to wait for the investigation to be over they posted that I forged my result without confirming.
“I printed the result from JAMB portal. They now say that I forged my result is what I don’t know. I am traumatised that they accused me of forging my own result. I am not capable of this,” she added.
Recall that NewsGazette reported on May 6, 2023 that the 16-year-old student of the Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS) Nnewi in Anambra State emerged the “overall best” student in the 2023 UTME.
A breakdown of her result showed that she made 98 per cent in English Language, 89 in Physics, 94 in Biology and 81 in Chemistry.
However, JAMB had last weekend accused the candidate of manipulating the result.
Spokesman for the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin said in a statement that JAMB finally discovered that Mmesoma inflated her score from 249 to 362 and went on to parade herself as the 2023 UTME top scorer.
“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 scholarship and other recognitions,” the statement said.
JAMB also said the candidate’s original result would be withdrawn, adding that many candidates are parading fake results having “used some funny software packages”.
The board said it found her case particularly pathetic as she had allegedly hoodwinked unsuspecting members of the public, including businessman, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, who offered her N3 million in scholarship, while a state honour was being planned to celebrate her.
“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.
“In many instances, some of these candidates had actually obtained far lower scores than they are claiming and had used some funny software packages to manipulate their results to deceive unsuspecting members of the public.
“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 N3 million scholarship by Chief 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 scholarship and other recognitions.
“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,” the board added.
