Nigerians react to alleged fake JAMB score of Mmesoma Ejikeme
MANY Nigerians have continued to express diverse opinions on the handling of Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme’s 2023 UTME result by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB.
The issue, which began over the weekend, has continued to generate lots of controversies and reactions from Nigerians. While some are insisting on a thorough investigation into the matter, others are insisting that Ejikeme couldn’t have forged her result, others insist on a promise to sponsor her education whether or not she is found guilty or not.
Despite the controversies generated, JAMB has remained adamant on its earlier position that the UTME result being paraded by Ejikeme is fake.
Reacting to a video by Ejikeme whivh went viral on Monday to absolve herself of any wrong doing, Fabian Benjamin, acting director of PAP of JAMB said on Tuesday, July 4, that JAMB’s system was neither tampered with nor compromised as the candidate simply falsified a copy of a result slip of another candidate named “Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle”, who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138.
But Ejikeme had in the video noted that when the QR code on her printed slip was scanned, it showed Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle, who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138 and that when it was scanned latter, it showed a different score.
Some Nigerians, who commented on the issue, wondered how a forged QR code would not read ‘error’ or not even scanable. If Nmesoma really forged her JAMB result with this app, then how come a forged QR code when scanned bore someone’s name, some people are asked.
Also, the Youth Wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide said in a statement by Chinedu Arthur-Ugwa, its Financial Secretary on Monday that JAMB should to put the matter to rest by setting another examination for Ejikeme.
Arthur-Ugwa described the development as `embarrassing’ to the candidate, JAMB, and Nigeria in general and called on JAMB to immediately clear its image and that of the nation.
He urged JAMB to bring Ejikeme’s alleged result falsification case to rest by testing her with another examination.
According to him, only another examination supervised by independent observers will bring this matter to rest and we will avail ourselves to be part of the supervision if need be.
Reacting to the unfolding drama, Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, called for an independent investigation into the matter.
In a statement through her verified Twitter handle, the former minister said the investigation would help to clear the air on whether she got the score or not.
“I frankly see no downsides in asking a team of Independent Technology folks to investigate and publicly share their findings. Let’s do it,” she added.
Although JAMB insists that the case has been handed over to relevant security agencies for thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of the alleged crime, it has gone ahead to withdraw Ejikeme’s 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years
For this, many Nigerians have wondered why JAMB couldn’t wait for the outcome of the said investigations before branding the 16-year-old student a criminal capable of forging her own result, while others have promised to provide her succor whether or not she is guilty.
Similarly, the Centre for Nonviolence and Social Justice, a human rights organization, has flayed JAMB over the poor handling of the alleged fake result
Commenting on the development, Amos Ogbonnaya, executive director of the Centre alleged that JAMB’s “careless, apparently official statement, has sparked viscous and unrelenting condemnation of the girl whose only offense is that she made the highest score in JAMB”.
According to Ogbonnaya, JAMB stopped short of telling the world how she inflated her score, when she did it, whether or not she did it alone or in consortium with some high-tech wizards, or the app or software used to hack JAMB’s data base or server. Someone who uses an app or a computer application to inflate a JAMB score cannot be said to have ‘manually’ inflated her UTME result.’ There is a clear difference between manual and electronic applications or manipulation.”
In the heat of the accusations and counter accusations, Romanus Ejikeme, father to Mmesoma says the family has no plan to sue JAMB.
He told journalists, who visited his house at Nnewi on Tuesday, that the family had left everything to God to judge, insisting that her daughter did not forge her results.
He said: “My daughter studies so hard that even when you ask her to go to bed late in the night, she will insist on reading more because she wants to study Medicine and Surgery.
“After all the stress, someone will say her result was forged. I have no doubt about this matter. I’m sure my daughter did not forge the result and we are ready to go to any length to prove it.
“I only feel bad that after what my daughter has gone through reading for the exams, that she is being denied her legitimate score.
“Since this allegation of my daughter forging her result broke out, both my wife and my daughter have been feeling very sad. My daughter is traumatized.”
