Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
A former minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili has called for an independent investigation into the ongoing result saga between the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its candidate, Mmesoma Ejikeme.
Ikengaonline reported that JAMB publicly accused Mmesoma who is a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State, of allegedly inflating her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
The news which is making rounds in different media platforms had it that Mmesoma had announced that she scored 362 in this year’s UTME, declaring herself as the overall best candidate in the country.
But in a statement on Sunday Fabian Benjamin, JAMB spokesperson, revealed that the student actually scored 249 in the exam.
Benjamin said her result would be withdrawn while the pupil would face prosecution.
On the other hand, the young girl in the eye of the storm, Mmesoma had come out to deny all allegations against her by JAMB claiming she was traumatised by the allegations against her as she had done nothing wrong.
The embattled Mmesoma Ejikeme in a viral video on Monday while stating her own side of the story said she did not, and not capable of forging her own results because she has a track record of excellence dating back to her nursery school days.
However, former minister of Education Dr Oby Ezekwesili in her Twitter account, urged the Federal Government and other authorities to investigate the saga between the institution and the student to unearth the truth behind the result brouhaha.
She said: “This saga between Mmesoma Ejikeme and requires an Independent Tech investigation to unearth all facts.
“Listening to her in this video, it is reasonable to request a forensic-investigation to help reveal what really happened. I have reached out to the Registrar of JAMB.”
According to her, “an Independent investigation would turn this curious episode into a Learning Opportunity for JAMB and everyone, especially students. I frankly see no downsides in asking a team of Independent Technology folks to investigate and publicly share their findings. Let’s do it.”
Similarly, former chairman of National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, while reacting to the saga had queried the messy handling of the situation by the examination body, JAMB.
Posting Mmesoma’s defense video on his Twitter handle, Odinkalu wrote: “Listen to #Mmesoma, make up your mind, & then ask @JAMBHQ how they can be this dreadfully messed up…
Recall that Innocent Chukwuma, Founder of Innoson Motors, had awarded Mmesoma a N3 million scholarship for her “exploit.”
The Anambra government was also planning to honour her for allegedly emerging as the top scorer.
Listen to #Mmesoma, make up your mind, & then ask @JAMBHQ how they can be this dreadfully messed up…. pic.twitter.com/YC0F86DmG7
— Chidi Odinkalu, CGoF (@ChidiOdinkalu) July 3, 2023
