By Akinwale Kasali
The alleged manipulation of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board, JAMB, Result by Mmesoma Ejikeme is taking a life of its own.
A Lawyer, Johnmary Maduakolam, is threatening to sue the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and the Management of the Board should they fail to tender an apology to Anambra pupil.
Mmesoma was accused by JAMB of manually inflating her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, result.
Maduakolam, in a letter addressed to Oloyede, noted that Mmesoma was incapable of forging her own results. He also accused JAMB of failing to protect the identity of the girl.
He said, “I am Chief Johnmary Akachukwu Maduakolam, a legal practitioner and the President of Johnmary Akachukwu Maduakolam Initiative for Education which is a pet project with a special interest in education and holistic development of the young person.
“I am shocked to read from the media a circular issued by one Mr Fabian Benjamin on behalf of JAMB, accusing one Ms. Mmesoma Ejikeme, a minor and a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Nnewi, Anambra State of faking JAMB scores to curry favour from unsuspecting philanthropists.
“By that publication, JAMB, under your watch, defamed the poor girl, exposed her to public opprobrium, and most especially failed to discharge its duty to the girl child under the Child’s Right Act.”
It would be recalled that the JAMB Registrar, Oloyede in a statement on Sunday noted that Ejikeme manually inflated her UTME result from 249 to 362 and used her manually increased score to attract a N3 Million scholarship from Innoson Motors and was set to be awarded a scholarship by the Anambra State Government before she was exposed.
In the statement Oloyede had stated that, “The most pathetic of them all is the case of Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME and was awarded a N3m scholarship by Chief (Dr.) Innocent Chukwuma. She was even set to be honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its top officials put a call through to JAMB to confirm her claim only for the Board to reveal that Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma had actually scored 249 and not 362 she claimed. She had manipulated her UTME result to deceive the public to fraudulently obtain a scholarship and other recognitions,” JAMB said.
Maduakolam in the letter said, “Paradoxically, information available in the Media strongly suggests that JAMB, and not the poor girl, is culpable of dishing out fake results but even if the girl forged her results, the law affords her some protection as a child in the circumstance.
“Sequel to the above, I hereby request your good self, on her behalf, to retract forthwith the malicious publication made against the child, tender an unreserved apology to her and take steps to ensure that the trauma your conduct caused is cushioned immediately.
“Kindly note if you fail, neglect or refuse to harken to my demands for the welfare of the child, I shall drag you to a court and you shall bear its cost.”
Meanwhile, rights activists, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, has waded into the saga between JAMB and Mmesoma. He took to his Twitter page to challenge JAMB to provide Mmesoma’s paper for external body to remark.
He wrote; “JAMB must produce her paper for an external body to remark. I don’t trust the mark they claim they awarded her right now.
“JAMB has ended up making the young girl popular and the girl on the other hand exposed JAMB corruption & ineptitude just like INEC.”
He also queried the negligence of JAMB if their accusation is factual.
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