UTME 2023: A Complete Timeline of Mmesoma Ejikeme, JAMB Saga
Nnewi, Anambra state - The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Mmesoma Joy Ejikeme have, within the last few days, engaged in claims and counterclaims over the authenticity of the 362 score claimed by the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate.
Legit.ng presents to you the timeline of major developments concerning the drama.
Source: Facebook
May 8, 2023: Innoson honours Mmesoma Ejikeme despite no official announcement from JAMB
On Monday, May 8, 2023, indigenous vehicle manufacturing company, Innoson, awarded a 3 million naira scholarship to Mmesoma, who it described as the “indigent overall best UTME candidate”. A press release from Innoson said she scored 362.
It was the first time the name, Mmesoma Joy Ejikeme, would pop up in public domain.
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Also, JAMB had not evaluated candidates' performance.
June 24, 2023: JAMB officially announces Umeh Nkechinyere as best student in 2023 UTME
On Saturday, June 24, 2023, JAMB held its policy meeting on admissions.
There, stakeholders deliberated on guidelines on admissions and other matters related to Nigerian tertiary-level education.
It was at the gathering that the examination body, first the first time, disclosed the candidate who scored the highest mark in the 2023 UTME.
It announced Umeh Kamsiyochukwu Nkechinyere (also called Chinyere), a student of Deeper Life High School, Mowe, Ogun State, as the top scorer of the 2023 UTME.
Miss Umeh, the official best candidate in the last UTME, scored a total of 360 out of 400 marks, JAMB announced on Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Abuja.
July 2, 2023: Mmesoma manipulated result, says JAMB
On Sunday, July 2, JAMB released a statement alleging that Mmesoma had manipulated her UTME result, to deceive the public and fraudulently obtain scholarship and other recognitions.
It said it decided to issue the public denouncement after a representative from the Anambra state ministry of education, reached out to it for authentication of Mmesoma's UTME 362-score. The government had mooted the idea of honouring Mmesoma as the ‘highest-scoring candidate’ in the 2023 JAMB.
JAMB commended “Innocent Chukwuma (the owner of Innoson) and encouraged other Nigerians, who desire to invest in the future of genuine youngsters, never to be discouraged but to always ensure that they get the authentic results from the Board, otherwise, they will be celebrating criminality as this is just another new fraudulent method in town”.
JAMB said the result from its backend shows that Mmesoma scored 249.
July 3, 2023: 'I printed disputed UTME result from JAMB portal', Mmesoma
The following day (Monday, July 3), Mmesoma hit back, making a video to say that she printed her result from the JAMB portal.
She said:
“I printed the result from JAMB portal.
“They now saying that I forged my result is what I don’t know. I am traumatised that they accused me of forging my own result. I am not capable of forging result.”
July 4, 2023: JAMB bans Mmesoma for three years
On Tuesday, July 4, the examination body withdrew the embattled UTME candidate’s result and announced a three-year ban on her.
The board also insisted that the Anambra student forged her result, adding that the board concluded high-level investigations before coming to its conclusion.
July 5, 2023: Mmesoma finally acknowledges 249 score
On Wednesday, July 5, while speaking in a telephone interview with Channels television, Mmesoma said JAMB's sanction on her is unfair.
And for the first time, she mentioned that she indeed received a score of 249 from JAMB — although she believes another score of 362 which she is in possession of the slip, is what is hers.
Part of her explanation goes thus:
“If they check their JAMB Support System, they would see that I sent a text message. They didn’t reply. The one I checked through the USSD code is the one of 362 (sic) that I saw.
“After all said and done, I now saw [sic] that I got 249. I sent them a text message there to know what really happened — the JAMB Support System. If they go to their system, they will see it there.”
July 5, 2023: Anambra govt investigates Mmesoma Ejikeme’s JAMB result
Anambra state government on Wednesday, July 5, set up an eight-member committee of inquiry to investigate the allegation against Mmesoma. Although an indigene of Enugu state, Mmesoma lives in Anambra state.
The government announcement was made known a few hours after the candidate admitted on Channels Television that she indeed got a text message from JAMB, with the score 249.
July 5, 2023: JAMB says Mmesoma’s father may be complicit
Legit.ng reported that on Wednesday, July 5, JAMB said from the look of things, it is “beginning to see” that Romanus Ejikeme, father of Mmesoma Ejikeme Joy, “has a hand in it”.
JAMB spokesperson said he can 'beat his chest' that the father is aware of Mmesoma's illicit steps to obtain a very high 2023 UTME result slip.
July 5, 2023: JAMB announces move to arrest man who developed app used to create fake UTME results
Fabian Benjamin, the spokesperson of JAMB, revealed that the examination body has discovered the developer of the controversial computer software package which some dishonest Nigerians use to generate false UTME results.
Benjamin made this revelation while speaking on The Punch’s Facebook Live on Wednesday, July 5, monitored by Legit.ng.
July 8, 2023: Mmesoma Ejikeme finally confesses to manipulating UTME result, reveals how she did it
Mmesoma finally owned up to her actions.
After almost a week of going back and forth with JAMB, the Anambra state panel of inquiry by Governor Charles Soludo confirmed on Saturday, July 8, that she had confessed to forging her JAMB UTME score.
Source: Legit.ng
