Mmesoma Ejikeme has tendered an unreserved apology to the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) on Wednesday when she appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee in Abuja.
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The 19 year old Mmesoma had been at the center of controversy after she claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), a score JAMB refuted as fake, insisting that she scored 249.
She read a letter of apology before the House of Representatives, stated that she had admitted what she did was wrong, adding that it was the reason she came to present her ‘Letter of Profound Apology’.
“I humbly seek your forgiveness for the mistake I made. I sincerely agree that I got the JAMB result from another portal. In the course of this, I lambasted JAMB; I apologise,” she said.
“Words cannot describe the depth of pain in my heart. This is the first time I will be doing this, I have never engaged in falsification or any misdemeanour,” she said, adding that it was not in her character to manipulate results or bring public institutions to ridicule.
She pleaded with JAMB to temper justice with mercy.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had following the controversy banned Ejikeme Joy Mmesome from writing its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for three years insisting that she forged the result. The Board also withdrew Mmesoma’s 2023 result.
Following the ban, Mmesoma appeared in a viral video, and said she was “traumatized” by the allegation against her, maintaining that she printed her results from JAMB portal.
Earlier in the month Investogist reported that the Anambra State Government panel of inquiry set up to investigate Mmesoma Ejikeme’s UTME result controversy confirmed that she manipulated her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination result.
During her appearance on Wednesday, Mmesoma promised to have embraced genuine repentance, and stated that she would willingly accept the recommendation of the ad hoc committee as she attempts to rectify her mistake and become a better person.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, said Mmesoma manipulated her result aided by the centre where she wrote the exam, adding that the centre had been banned for aiding and abetting fraud. According to him, eight centres in Anambra State are currently under investigation over Mmesoma’s case.
He said, “Mmesoma’s case was (that of) an amateur, there was one falsification by a candidate that I almost went mad.”
The Chairman of the Committee, Sanda Soli, urged Mmesoma to restitute her ways and not allow such misconduct again.
“You are one of the high scorers, don’t ever think of doing bad things to achieve anything ever again,” he said.
The Anambra State Government panel of inquiry had in its report recommended that Mmesoma immediately tender an unreserved written apology to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, the school (Anglican Girls’ Secondary School, Uruagu Nnewi), and the state government and should undergo psychological counselling and therapy.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
