Mr. Ejikeme Romanus, father of the teenage student accused of forging her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) result has alleged that there is a conspiracy against his daughter.
Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma has been in the news since Sunday when the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) accused her of forgery.
According to Fabian Benjamin, spokesman of the examination body, the student scored 249 but changed her result to 362.
But Mmesoma’s father, who is tricycle rider told Leadership that his daughter could not have committed forgery.
He said his daughter had showcased sterling academic brilliance right from her nursery school days.
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 UMTE 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’s) friends that saw her score on the internet and started calling her before she went and printed it out. We have the print-out, it is with us now,” Mmesoma’s father stated.
Mr. Ejikeme lamented that his daughter had been downcast since her visit to the commissioner of education from where she was taken to office of the Department of State Services (DSS).
According to the father, the development has so much traumatized her, as the society now sees as a fraudster.
When contacted, the public relations officer of the Anambra state police command, Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, said Mmesoma’s case had not been reported to the police in the state.
“We are not aware of the case (Mmesoma’s UMTE score forgery). So, I can’t comment on the issue,” he stated.
Meanwhile ,following the alleged manipulation of result, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has banned Anambra student, Mmesoma Ejikeme from taking the board’s examinations for three years.
The examination body also maintained that it concluded high-level investigations before indicting Mmesoma.
Fabian Benjamin, the spokesman of JAMB disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen.
He said, “In the meantime, the management of the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with its established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.
Benjamin further reiterated the board’s earlier position that the UTME result being fronted by Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma was fake, adding that the candidates’ account was an attempt to re-write the truth.
“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.
“Furthermore, the public is also to note that the Board stopped issuing Notification of Result slips after the 2021 UTME for the simple reason that candidates were falsifying them. Consequently, the Board has been issuing actual UTME RESULT Slips (not notification of results ) since 2022 complete with the photograph of each candidate,” he said.
While speaking on the bad publicity the whole situation has generated for the board, Benjamin said that it was disturbed as this is not the first time such fraudulent claims have been made.
He recalled an incident in 2021 where a candidate, John Chinedu Ifesinachi wrote a letter to the Board, threatening to sue for N2b damages, only for him and his counsel to tender unreserved apology when the candidate eventually confessed his crime in the face of incontrovertible facts in an open investigation observed by several national public institutions including the Public Complaints Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, Servicom and media houses.
The board also regretted the different colouration added by some “unwholesome” interests who are ready to lead the candidate to a destructive end, urging those doing that to retract
“Another frightening dimension to the unfolding drama is the unwholesome interest of some nefarious elements, who to all intents and purposes, are determined to goad the candidate on this unproductive path as any casual observer would observe with the obviously stage-managed video aired by Ms. Ejikeme. The Board urges these confusionists to have a rethink as their evil machinations would soon come to light”
“Again, the Board restates its readiness for genuine scrutiny as this case would not be the first time and might not even be the last of such shenanigans. At the end of the day, the truth would manifest and the Board vindicated.
“In the meantime, the management of the Board urges members of the public to examine critically the issue at hand and avoid fake news trafficking,” the statement said.
