Ejikeme Mmesoma, the student alleged to have forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, has finally admitted to scoring 249.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had in a statement issued by its spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, accused the student of forging her result, but Mmesoma stood her ground that she scored 362 out of the total mark of 400.
Benjamin revealed its records indicated the candidate had sent a series of messages to the board’s automated telecoms system, including the results showing an aggregate of 362.
JAMB subsequently slammed a 3-year ban on the pupil from Anambra State, a move that triggered mixed reactions.
While appearing with her father, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, on Wednesday, Mmesoma said she ought not to be blamed for the controversy.
“It’s not my fault that I printed my result like that and they said that I forged my result. It’s not my fault. So, them banning it is not fair,” she said.
Mmesoma said she sent an SMS to JAMB through its support system but got no response.
“That’s the only SMS I sent there. They didn’t reply. If they check their JAMB Support System, they would see that I sent a text message. They didn’t reply.
“After all said and done, I now saw 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.”
Benjamin had described the result being flaunted by Mmesoma as obsolete.
“The board would like to reassure Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised as 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 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,” Benjamin said.
Commenting on a video in which Mmesoma released in an attempt to defend herself amid the raging controversy, the JAMB spokesman said, “If you look at her posture—look at the video very well—if you look at the video critically, you will see that somebody is coaching her on what to say. Just sit down and look at the video she posted.”
