The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the body responsible for the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Is-haq Oloyede, has spoken exclusively to PREMIUM TIMES on the controversies surrounding the alleged fake result being claimed a candidate who sat the 2023 examination, Ejikeme Mmesoma.
This is as the candidate in a viral video has insisted that the controversial score of 362 claimed by her was printed from the examination body’s website.
But Mr Oloyede has said investigations by his agency revealed that the accused candidate “was either duped or she is a member of a high-level syndicate engaging in manufacturing fake UTME results.”
How it started
Since the release of the results of the 2023 UTME by JAMB, many candidates, including Miss Mmesoma, have been claiming the highest score in the examination.
Miss Mmsesoma, a female indigene of Enugu State who resides in Nnewi, Anambra State, and attends Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS) Nnewi, claimed she scored 362 in the examination.
She said she scored 98 in English Language, 89 in Physics, 94 in Biology and 81 in Chemistry, totalling 362 of the 400 obtainable marks.
The ‘feat’ had earned her accolades from many Nigerians, including the government of Anambra State and the founder of Innoson Vehicles, Innocent Chukwuma, who promised her a N3 million scholarship.
Many hailed Ms Mmesoma’s purported excellence, as Charles Soludo-led administration in Anambra State described her feat as a confirmation of the governor’s investments in the education sector.
Burble burst
Meanwhile, on Sunday, JAMB disclaimed the result being claimed by Miss Mmesoma.
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, the examination body said Miss Mmesoma’s actual score on the test was 249 and not the 362 she claimed to have scored.
“The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to several publications in both print and online media celebrating certain candidates for being high scorers in the 2023 UTME.
“The Board is constrained to set the records straight and wishes to state unequivocally that many of the results which many of these candidates are parading are fake.”
JAMB also threatened to withdraw the candidate’s purported authentic result of 249 as a punishment for what it described as dishonest conduct.
It said the matter had been handed over to the police and that due prosecution would be followed to the letter.
Candidate insists
In a video circulating on social media platforms on Monday, the candidate insisted that the document showing her purported 362 was printed from the JAMB website, claiming it is authentic.
She added that the board’s accusation had left her traumatised.
“I am the owner of this result. I went to the JAMB portal to print this result. And this is what they gave me. This is exactly how I downloaded it from that site,” she said.
Screenshot from a video Mmesoma shared on social media insisting her JAMB result is authentic.
“So, 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.”
In the video where she was holding the result sheet, Miss Mmesoma narrated that she had, accompanied by her school principal, presented the result to the Commissioner for Education in Anambra State, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, a professor, who snapped and sent the result to the JAMB officials. But the JAMB officials said the result was forged.
“We went to the Commissioner of Education office on Friday with my principal. We went there; we showed all these results to the Commissioner of Education. Both this one and the SMS they sent to me. She snapped it and sent it to the JAMB official. They called back saying this is a forged result, that I forged it myself, and that the JAMB office doesn’t have a record of this.”
Afterwards, she said, some State Security Service (SSS, also called DSS) officials took them from the commissioner’s office to the SSS office, where the SSS officials promised to investigate the origin of the result. But before they received any information from the SSS, JAMB had released a statement accusing her of manipulating the result, she said.
“They called the DSS over to come to her office. The DSS took us to their office. And we made our statement there, and they said they’ll contact us later, that they’ll investigate the result to know where it came from,” she continued.
“Instead of them to wait for the investigation to be over, they posted that I forged my result without confirmation. So, I am really sad about this.”
Miss Mmesoma went further to say she had always been a brilliant student and the best in her classes from nursery school.
Registrar Speaks
Speaking on the matter on Monday evening, JAMB Registrar, Mr Oloyede, insisted that the document being displayed by Miss Mmesoma “belongs to another candidate who sat the examination two years ago.”
He said: “If you scan the code, the candidate’s result will show. So, I can say emphatically that the girl is parading a fake result. It is either she is being duped, or she is part of a syndicate manufacturing purported JAMB results.
“There are security features on our results, so I can emphasise that the girl is just trying to deceive the public. Her result is completely fake. Her claim that she printed the result from our site is a lie, totally incorrect. If we should reveal all that we know, people will be shocked. So, if people are looking for shortcuts to achieve an end, that is what would happen.”
JAMB said the matter has nothing to do with its system, saying nobody hacked into its system and that the result did not emanate from its system. “The result she is holding is completely fake because we are able to track everything printed from our system.”
Rogue Websites
Meanwhile, the examination body has insisted that there are various syndicates engaging in the manufacturing of fake results.
The JAMB boss said the stakes are high for the scammers, noting that they have been successfully scamming unsuspecting persons.
Rogue JAMB Wbsites Scamming People
He said: “Some of them even tried to call me to record my voice so they can clone it, to prove that I already confirmed the girl’s result as authentic. They didn’t know that I was already aware of their game. It is a high-level involvement with many people. It is a complete scam, and we have handed over the girl to the security operatives, but she is on bail.”
Anambra Orders Probe
The Anambra State Government has constituted a panel of inquiry to investigate the matter.
A statement by the state’s education ministry’s spokesperson, Nnaemeka Egwuonwu, said the Commissioner for Education, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, described the development as embarrassing, “especially as it comes at a time when Governor Charles Soludo is repositioning the sector.”
The government also celebrated Nkechinyere Umeh, who was declared the top scorer by JAMB. According to JAMB, Miss Nkechineyere scored 360 points on the UTME tests.
“The Anambra State Government has continued to celebrate Nkechinyere Umeh, who was declared the highest by JAMB, having scored a cumulative mark of 360, while security agents are investigating the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Ejikeme Mmesoma, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest,” it said.
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