ABUJA, Nigeria – The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has announced the withdrawal of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, result of a candidate named Mmesoma Ejikeme due to alleged manipulation of her scores.
The announcement was made in a statement by Fabian Benjamin, the Head of Public Affairs and Protocol at JAMB, in Abuja on Sunday, July 2, 2023.
Ejikeme had claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME and was subsequently awarded a N3 million scholarship by Innocent Chukwuma, the Chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing company.
However, JAMB has revealed that Ejikeme actually scored 249, not 362 as she claimed.
Dr. Benjamin noted that the 2023 UTME has seen several candidates parading fake scores in an attempt to gain undue advantages.
He mentioned another case of a candidate named Atung Gerald in Kaduna, who allegedly claimed to have scored 380.
JAMB expressed concern over candidates using software to manipulate their results and deceive the public.
Dr. Benjamin said, “In many instances, some of these candidates had actually obtained far lower scores than they are claiming and had used some funny software packages to manipulate their results to deceive unsuspecting members of the public.”
Ejikeme was in line to be honored by the Anambra State Government for her purported high score when a top official from the state contacted JAMB to verify her claims.
The Board then disclosed that she had actually scored 249.
Dr. Benjamin explained, “She had manipulated her UTME result to deceive the public and fraudulently obtained scholarship and other recognitions.”
The Board urged the public to verify the claims of candidates with JAMB before bestowing any honors or awards, as certain software has been created to produce fake results.
Dr. Benjamin added, “It is to be noted that the candidate had sent a message to the Board’s platform to request her UTME result after which she manually inflated her scores and pasted same on the 2022 UTME result sheet. Unknown to her, the Board had changed the design of the 2023 UTME result sheet. Her original result remains 249 as nothing can change that.”
JAMB has stated that Mmesoma Ejikeme will face prosecution, and the Board will investigate all candidates making claims to higher scores than they actually obtained in order to maintain the integrity of the examination.