Father breaks silence, speaks to media
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) decision to bar Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma from taking the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for the next three years has been criticised by the National Association of Parent- Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN).
Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, National Deputy Chairman of NAPTAN, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos, strongly criticised the examination body’s decision.
JAMB had released a statement explaining their decision to expel Mmesoma, saying that the Anambra student had forged her UTME result slip for the year 2023.
The statement was released by the board’s Acting Director of Press and Publicity, Mr. Fabian Benjamin, who said that JAMB made the decision after discovering that Mmesoma did not achieve the claimed score of 362.
Benjamin also mentioned that the fake result slip that Mmesoma was showing off was actually for an individual named Asimiyu Miriam Omobolanle who took the UTME in 2021 and received a score of 138.
Ogunbanjo responded by calling JAMB’s decision hasty, claiming the organisation had not done its homework.
We believe JAMB’s decision was made too quickly. The board should have done their homework and conducted more covert research before imposing the ban.
“We are not particularly at home with JAMB’s approach on this whole issue, although it is an unfortunate development”, he said.
While the investigation was ongoing, Ogunbanjo claimed that JAMB had invited the DSS to arrest the student.
He advised JAMB to proceed cautiously because the incident might involve hacking.
In other words, “UTME is a technology-driven exercise, so there could be hacking just like any other technology could as well be hacked,” as Ogunbanjo put it.
He did, however, note that there were some bright spots in the case.
“Students or people who may have been doing this in the past or planning to have their way through this dubious means should have a rethink because this issue has served as an eye-opener,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Romanus Ejikeme, the father of Mmesoma, who has been accused of falsifying her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result, has stated that the family has no plans to fight the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Ejikeme told media who came to his Nnewi home on Tuesday that the family had left everything up to God.
He argued that her daughter did not falsify her grades, claiming that she was a dedicated and studious student who did not take her studies lightly.
“My daughter studies so hard that even if you tell her to go to bed late at night, she will insist on reading more because she wants to study Medicine and Surgery,” he explained.
“After all of this stress, someone will say that her result was forged.” This is beyond a doubt in my mind. I am sure that my daughter did not forge the results, and we are ready to go to any length to prove it.
“I only feel bad that my daughter is being denied her legitimate score after all she has gone through reading for the exams.”
“Since the allegations of my daughter forging her JAMB results broke out, both my wife and daughter have been devastated.” My daughter is traumatised.
“We want a thorough investigation into this matter.”
Remember that Mmesoma Ejikeme, who has been flaunting a JAMB result with a score of 362, claiming to be the highest scorer, has been expelled by JAMB as a forgery.
According to the board, the student fabricated her results, revoked her original results, and was barred from taking the examinations for three years.
