- As Anambra govt drops Mmesoma, honours Nkechinyere
- There’s more to the story – Innoson
Our Reporter, Abuja with Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has publicly disowned, and vowed to prosecute one Ejikeme Mmesoma, said to be the highest scorers in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, for allegedly manipulating her score from 249 to 362.
But Innoson Group, which had honoured the embattled young girl and offered her a scholarship had said there is more to the story promising to conduct its own independent investigation on the matter before taking any action.
JAMB said the self-acclaimed ‘best candidate,’ paraded fake result as the said result did not emanate from the examination body.
Similarly, JAMB said it would also prosecute one Atung Gerald from Kaduna State, who never sat the exam, but claimed to have scored 380.
This is contained in a statement issued by JAMB’s Spokesman, Dr Fabian Benjamin, and obtained by Ikengaonline.
According to the statement, JAMB expressed shock and furry over Mmesoma’s case said to have ripped off unsuspecting members of the public, including businessman, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who offered her N3m in scholarship.
Anambra State Government is also reported to be at the verge of giving her a state honour before she was busted.
The statement read in part: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to several publications in both print and online media celebrating certain candidates for being high scorers in the 2023 UTME.
“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 a N3m 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.”
Concerning Gerald, JAMB said his ethnic tribe who wanted to fight for his honour, was disappointed when it discovered he was never a candidate in the first place.
“His ethnic group had taken the issue up, requesting that he should be given special recognition only for the Board to disappoint them with the incontestable fact that Atung never obtained the 2023 UTME application documents not to talk of sitting the examination.
On Mmesoma, JAMB said her original result would be withdrawn, adding that the Examination body will also investigate all previous claimants of highest scorers.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, has confirmed that the State Government had since penciled down another candidate with the highest scores for honour in place of the embattled Mmesoma.
According to the Commissioner, one Nkechinyere Umeh, who scored 360, has been chosen to replace Mmesoma
Also, Innoson Group, which had honoured the embattled young girl and offered her a scholarship said it would conduct its own independent investigation on the matter before taking any action.
Taking to his Twitter handle, Cornel Osigwe, Head Corporate Communication at IVM Innoson Group, has said there’s more to the report promising that the company shall withdraw the scholarship it had awarded the girl if there is evidence that she willfully manipulated her results.
“We’re doing our independent investigation on the issue of manipulation, if we found that the girl willfully manipulated her result, we shall withdraw the scholarship, but if we observe she is innocent of the accusation, then the scholarship stands, whether she is the best or not.
“That girl was one of the most brilliant in her school, according to the Principal, her parents couldn’t even afford to pay for her WEAC and NECO Exams. Of what advantage will it offer her to manipulate her JAMB score? Let the poor breathe pls.
“The girl I met doesn’t have the brain and capacity to manipulate her result. There is more to this story. A proper investigation needs to be done. ‘Abeg’ let the poor breath,” Osigwe posted.
