By Charles Igbo
As the controversy between 16-year old Mmesoma Ejikeme and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, over her score in the just released JAMB results rages like wild fire, a former Minister for Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has weighed-in.
Ejikeme, a student of Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, Anambra State, is in a curious tango with JAMB over her score at the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.
Ejikeme had, based on a print out from the JAMB portal, disclosed she scored 362, thus becoming the highest scorer in the Examination.
But just as celebrations were going on, and good tidings were heading her way, JAMB issued a statement and disputed her score. The Board accused Ejikeme of forgery, and, alleged, she brazenly inflated her score from 249 to 362.
JAMB, therefore, cancelled her entire score and withdrew her result, with a threat to prosecute her for forgery.
But in a swift, emotional, defence of her integrity in a video, Ejikeme said the result is hers, and that it was what she, personally, printed out from the JAMB portal. She described herself as incapable of forgery, and lamented that JAMB has traumatized her by accusing her of forging her own result.
While the Department of State Services, DSS, has taken over the investigation to ascertain the truth, Ezekwesili has called for the intervention of Technology Experts to unravel the riddle. In this regard, Dr Ezekwesili said she has, already, reached out to the JAMB Registrar.
In a statement she posted on her tweeter handle, the former Minister said: “This saga between Mmesoma Ejikeme and @JAMBHQ requires an independent Tech investigation to unearth all facts. Listening to her in this video, it is reasonable to request a forensic investigation to help reveal what really happened. I have reached out to the Registrar of JAMB.
“An independent investigation will turn this curious episode into a Learning Opportunity for @JAMBHQ and everyone, especially, students.
“I frankly see no downside in asking a team of Independent Technology folks to investigate and publicly share their findings. Let’s do it.”
Ejikeme’s school solidly stands by her, disclosing that she is so brilliant that she is, always, on top of her class.
