Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma has been banned by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which maintains that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result she presented “is patently fake.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja and signed by Dr Fabian Benjamin, Acting Director of Public Affairs and Protocol, JAMB reiterated its decision to withdraw Mmesoma’s 2023 UTME result and barred her from sitting for the board’s examination for the next three years.
The board had withdrawn the candidate’s UTME result on Sunday, accusing her of manipulating and falsifying her scores.
However, in a new viral video on Monday, Mmesoma denied manipulating her result and suggested a possible technical malfunction from the board’s system.
Mmesoma insisted that the printout she possessed was an original copy from the board’s portal. JAMB said: ” Consequently, the board would like to reassure Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised.
” 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.
” This she did, 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.”
The board further explained that it stopped issuing Notification of Result slips in 2021.
This, JAMB said was for the same reason, that candidates kept falsifying their results through the slips.
JAMB said it has been issuing actual UTME RESULT Slips (not notification of results ) since 2022, complete with the photograph of each candidate.
“Similarly, the public is also invited 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.’
JAMB said that it has remained unperturbed by the unfortunate development as this was not the first time such fraudulent claims had been made.
It said: ” This case has therefore, been rightly handed over to relevant security agencies for thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of yet another unfortunate scam.
” The board is not averse to public scrutiny and hereby suggests a public session with relevant security agencies, representatives of Ms. Ejikeme and civil society organisations in attendance without delay.
” This is on account of the board’s experience over the years, which showed that these wily candidates confessed to their ignoble acts only when confronted with incontestable facts.”
The board said that the candidate was set to be honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its top officials called the attention of the board to confirm her claim.
It further disclosed that the call prompted the board to verify and reveal that Mmesoma had actually scored 249 and not 362, as she claimed, to fraudulently obtain scholarship and other recognitions.”