Forgery: Mmesoma appears before Reps panel, begs JAMB

An Anambra State pupil, Mmesoma Ejikeme, who forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result, appeared on Wednesday before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives in Abuja.

The teenager, who had admitted to manipulating her score from 249 to 362, thus parading herself as the 2023 UTME top scorer, tendered an apology to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board for her misdeed.

Before admitting the forgery, Mmesoma had engaged JAMB in accusation and counter-accusation, with the exam body slamming a three-year ban on her.

As the debate got heated, the House of Representatives waded in, calling for a stay of action on the imposed sanction.

However, Mmesoma would later own up to forging her result during a probe by the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Anambra State Government to look into the case.

On Wednesday she appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee set up to look into the case.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, also appeared, accompanied by top officials of the exam body.

At the hearing, Mmesoma pleaded for leniency, urging JAMB to lift the imposed three-year ban. She said, “I feel a debt of pain for letting you down.

“I have already admitted that what I did was wrong. Based on that, I hereby present to you all, my letter of apology.

“I humbly seek your forgiveness for the mistakes I have made and the pain I have caused.

“I deeply and sincerely agree that I ignorantly got my JAMB result from another portal which was not JAMB portal.

“I apologise for all the apportioned blame and all the pain I have caused.”

She said ignorance played a “significant role” in the process of obtaining the fake result.

But in his submission, the JAMB Registrar insisted that Mmesoma deliberately conspired with other actors to forge her result.

He added that JAMB had shut down over eight UTME centres that had been found wanting for infractions relating to results manipulation. Punch