By JOY ADARA, Abuja –
A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has urged Mmesoma Ejikeme, a 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate, to genuinely explained the source of her controversial UTME result.
Mmesoma, who has been a subject of concern lately, had claimed that she scored 362 in her UTME, but Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) insisted the result being paraded by her was patently fake, maintaining that her actual score is 249. In line with its established procedures, the board withdrew her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.
Reacting to this in a statement on Wednesday, Chidoka, who is also the owner of the Computer-Based Testing (CBT) Centre where Mmesoma sat for her examination, said he will beg JAMB for leniency if the candidate can genuinely explained the source of her result.
A former Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka“For Nmesoma, she should come clean and explain how she got that result and who led her down that path. If she does that, I will lend my voice to beg JAMB to note her age and show more leniency,” he said.
Chidoka said that he observed two red flags when he saw the candidate’s result online.
He said: “First, our center is no longer addressed as Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development on the JAMB portal since 2021. The correct name on the JAMB portal and Main Examination Slip is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development)…Her (Nmesoma) result showing Thomas Chidoka without the Nkemefuna Foundation, which was on her Main Examination slip, raised my suspicion about the genuineness of the result.
“The second red flag was the result template. A cursory review of some of those who took the last examination at our center showed a different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB watermarks, and no mention of the name of the examination center.
“I gave the young Nmesoma the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously not the result template that Jamb used in 2023. I knew it was fake,” the ex-minister stated, noting that his centre has been involved with the JAMB CBT examination since 2016.
He commended JAMB for coming out “forcefully” to defend its integrity, saying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should act like JAMB and explain the “technical glitch” the commission suffered in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
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