Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, who is at the centre of the debate about who received the highest score in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) this year, has been given a three-year suspension.
In an interview with journalists yesterday evening, the Board’s spokesman, Dr. Benjamin Fabian, accused Miss Ejikeme of engaging in criminal activities, pronounced Mmesoma’s 362 UTME result to be fraudulent, and revealed that her original score was 249 and that her score was artificially inflated. Mmesoma’s UTME result was also abruptly withdrawn, according to JAMB.
Fabian added that, like Mmesoma, the real top scorer is also an Anambra State native. He is Umeh Nkechinyere with 360 marks.
“What she did was change a score that someone in the 2021 UTME had earned. She is also prohibited from taking the UTME for three years. She received a score of 249. That result has also been cancelled, he added over the phone.
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When questioned about how the girl might have changed her score without working with a Board member, Fabian responded that the facility was not hackable.
“Our results are safe and nobody has hacked into them. She only altered her results, and the QR code will always show her true result,” he added.
In contrast, Mmesoma denied any wrongdoing in a statement on her Facebook wall.
“They are just trying to harass me and my family. After the results were released over two months ago, why is it taking them this long to say what they are saying now? Now, using the QR code is indicating another name – Omotola Afolabi – which initially showed a score of 138 and, later, 338. Somebody cannot have two different results from the same examination.
“I cannot do what they are accusing me of. I have been a brilliant girl from my Nursery School days. I scored over 300 in my common entrance examination to secondary school,” she stated.
Innoson Motors’ founder, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who announced the N3 million university scholarship award to Mmesoma, 16, shortly after her results went viral, has stated that the most recent development means the girl will no longer be able to access the fund, even though the money had been paid into a special account.
When told that the little girl had won the UTME, Chukwuma stated he was thrilled, especially after learning that she attended a public school. He later described the revelation as very terrible.
He said, “When I was told that a student of a public school recorded the highest score in the JAMB examination, I sent for the principal of the school and the principal confirmed to me that it was true that the girl scored the mark.
“I said to myself that such a brilliant girl if properly educated, will be beneficial to our country and the world at large, so I decided to award her a scholarship so that nothing will stop her from attaining a university education.
“When I awarded her the scholarship, I deposited ¦ 3,000,000 in a dedicated bank account and told the principal that the money is strictly meant for Mmesoma’s education in the university, which means that any time she needs to pay any fee in the school, they will let me know so that I will sign for withdrawal of the money from the account. “
