The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board have banned Ms Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years over alleged forgery of her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result.
The Board has provided a detailed explanation of how the embattled candidate from Anambra state was helped to manipulate the result, insisting it was a weighty infraction that could not be overlooked.
Acting Director, Public Affairs and Protocol of JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin who announced the ban in a statement in Abuja, said this was in addition to the withdrawal of her 2023 UTME result.
He said: “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the weighty infraction committed by Ms Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with its established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years”.
Mmesoma, who claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME, was recently celebrated and awarded a N3 million scholarship by Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company.
JAMB had however on Sunday issued a statement to refute the claims, saying that the result being paraded by Mmesoma making her the highest scorer in the 2023 UTME was manipulated and that her actual score was 249.
Benjamin while giving further insight on how the result was forged, said the Board believes the candidate might have some sponsors or managers who helped her to manipulate the result the way she did.
He disclosed that the board was able to identify the fake result with the help of a security device called a QR code scan.
He said: “I think the public is getting this thing wrong. There is nothing wrong with our system. What happened is that the version of the result the candidate has with her has been manipulated
“This particular candidate, there was news all over that she was honoured with N3 million and the Anambra State government was also trying to receive and honour her also.
“We had announced the highest scorer for the year 2023 which incidentally happens to come from Anambra state and when we got the information that somebody is laying claim to 362, we went into our system and discovered that there was nobody with a score of 362.
“The commissioner of education from Anambra actually called and I asked her to send the result to me. For every result that is printed from our system, it comes out with a QR code. The QR code is the security device of that result.
“The first thing I did was scan the QR code. So when I scanned the QR code on her result, I discovered that the QR code belongs to a candidate who sat the examination in 2021 and that candidate scored 138, and I became curious.
“So, I went into the system with the registration number because she put the scores she obtained. I checked in the system and discovered that she scored 249 and not 362.” He also noted that she might have used graphic design to manipulate the scores.
Benjamin added that the Board was not aware of the issue until when the girl brought it into the public space, adding that she will now be penalised for it.
“Her 249 result is withdrawn and she will be banned from taking this examination in the next three years,” the JAMB spokesman said.
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
