The controversy trailing the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, has taken a new dimension, with Mr. Romanus Ejikeme, the father of Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme whose claimed score of 362 is the subject of dispute has alleged that there is conspiracy to deprive her daughter of her hard earned academic success.
Reacting to the claim by JAMB that her daughter forged the score, Ejikeme said that her daughter had shown consistent academic brilliance right from her nursery school days.
According to him, Mmesoma had always placed first position in her classes.
Ejikeme said: “We are from Oduma in Aninri local government in Enugu State, but, we live in Uruagu, Nnewi.
“Mmesoma is my first child. She had always taken first position from the time she was in the nursery school at Ogbunike Central school.
“When she was at Oba Girls Secondary school, Mmesoma was representing the school in competitions. So when she changed to Anglican Girls Secondary school, her teachers in Oba Girls came and pleaded with me, begging me to retain her in their school because she was promoting the name of their school.
“Mmesoma cannot manipulate her UTME score. I don’t believe what they are saying.
“They just want to transfer that scholarship to another person. That is why they are saying that Mmesoma did not make that score.
“It is even her (Mmesoma’s) friends that saw her score in internet and started calling her before she went and printed it out. We have the printout with us now”
Ejikeme lamented that her daughter has been feeling very sad and even crying since her visit to the Anambra State Commissioner of Education from where she was taken to the DSS office.
The state commissioner of education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Ude said the state government had earlier congratulated Mmesoma when she was published in the social media platforms that she made the highest score of 362 in the 2023 UTME.
She said that the government later discovered from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board website that the highest score in the 2023 UTME was 360, adding that it was another student from the state, Miss Nkechinyere Umeh, who got the score.
The Commissioner said Mmesoma was later brought to her office in Awka on Friday, by one Very Reverend Nduka and the principal of her school to protest when they saw that the state government rather congratulated Miss Nkechinyere Umeh.
She stated that when she scrutinized the printout of Mmesoma’s JAMB result slip, she noticed that the result was that of 2021 UTME.
“Following Mmesoma’s protest, I decided to put a call to the secretary of the JAMB, and, he told me that the highest score in 2023 UTME is 360.
“I therefore invited the DSS and when they came, all of us took Mmesoma to their office for them to investigate the matter. And I made sure that Mmesoma was released to go home. So, the matter is still being investigated”,Chuma-Ude further said.
When contacted, the public relations officer of the Anambra state police command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said Mmesoma’s case has not been reported to the police in the state.
“We are not aware of the case of UTME score forgery. So, I can comment on the issue,” the PPRO said.