JAMB bars Anambra pupil for 3 years, insists result is ‘fake’

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has barred Ejikeme Mmesoma from taking part in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for three years. 

In a statement on Tuesday, Fabian Benjamin, the board’s spokesperson, also said the UTME result of the Anambra pupil has been withdrawn.

Mmesoma had on Monday dismissed the board’s allegation that she forged her UTME result.

She also argued that she scored 362 in the exam, not 249 as stated by JAMB.

But addressing the controversy, JAMB insisted that the result “paraded by the student is patently fake”.

“Consequently, 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,” the statement reads.

“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.

“To witness the unassailable position of the Board regarding this obvious falsehood, the general public is, therefore, urged to endeavour to scan the QR code on the result slip to see its actual owner before it was mutilated.

“It is to be noted that the QR code encapsulates the UTME result of each candidate, hence, what is on the result sheet is nothing other than the interpretation of the information on this QR code.”

JAMB also said it stopped issuing the notification slip displayed by Mmesoma in the now-viral video after the 2021 UTME.

“Furthermore, the public is also to note that the Board stopped issuing Notification of Result slips after the 2021 UTME for the simple reason that candidates were falsifying them. Consequently, the Board has been issuing actual UTME RESULT Slips (not notification of results ) since 2022 complete with the photograph of each candidate,” the board added.

“Similarly, the public is also invited to ponder on the fact that out of all the candidates that sat the 2023 UTME, only Ms. Ejikeme Mmesoma parades the obsolete ‘Notification of Result.’

“In the meantime, the management of the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ms. Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, and in line with its established procedures, has withdrawn her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.”