The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has withdrawn Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma’s 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.
JAMB disclosed this in a statement issued by the Board’s Spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
TheFact Daily recalls that JAMB had earlier alerted that Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and was awarded a N3m scholarship by Chief (Dr.) Innocent Chukwuma had actually scored 249 and not the 362 she claimed.
According to Benjamin, JAMB was restating its earlier position that the UTME result being paraded by Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma was patently fake.
Consequently, the Board reassured 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 noted that the candidate, in her statement, had inadvertently revealed the rightful owner of the result she was 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.
The statement explained that, “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”.
Similarly, the Board also invited the public to ponder on the fact that out of all the candidates that sat the 2023 UTME, only Ms. Ejikeme Mmesoma parades the obsolete ‘Notification of Result.’
It added that, it remained unperturbed by this unfortunate development as this was not the first time such fraudulent claims have been made.
“As such, Nigerians are urged to recall numerous occasions where the Board was sued for billions of naira only for the lawyers to later apologise profusely for their clients’ misadventure.
“Prominent among these is the case of a candidate, John Chinedu Ifesinachi, who, in 2021, 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.
“This case has, therefore, been rightly handed over to relevant security agencies for thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of yet another unfortunate scam”.
Benjamin added that, the Board was not averse to public scrutiny and was ready for open public session involving the agencies listed above as well as relevant security agencies where the candidate, parent’s guardian and her legal team will be present.
He disclosed that, “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 member of the public to examine critically the issue at hand and avoid fake news trafficking.
“In the meantime, the management of the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with it’s established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years”, JAMB said.
