MMESOMA Ejikeme, the student accused by the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) of faking her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, has apologised to the examination body over her conduct.
Mmesoma tendered the apology on Wednesday, July 19, when she appeared before an ad hoc committee set up by the House of Representatives investigating the issue.
“I feel a debt of pain for letting you down. I had already admitted that what I did was wrong. Based on that, I hereby presented 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 a JAMB portal. I apologise for all the apportioned blame and all the pain I have caused,” she said.
The student also pleaded for leniency over the three-year ban imposed on her by the examination body.
The Board placed a three-year ban on Mmesoma after announcing that the UTME result she was parading, which suggested that she got the highest score in the examination was forged.
Prior to the ban, Mmesoma had been celebrated for having the highest result in the 2023 UTME and was awarded a N3 million scholarship by Nigerian automobile manufacturer Innoson Motors.
Anambra State’s Commission for Education Ngozi Chuma-Udeh described the feat as a source of joy and celebration to every Anambra indigene, adding that the state would subsequently monitor her academic progress.
However, JAMB, in a statement, disputed Mmesoma’s result a few days later, describing it as inflated.
While she claimed to have scored 362 in the examinations, the JAMB Head of Public Affairs Fabian Benjamin said her actual score was 249.
Following the Board’s statement, Ejikeme released a video, insisting that the result was printed from JAMB’s portal. But she later admitted to falsifying the result.
A panel of inquiry set up by the Anambra State Government also confirmed that the result was manipulated.
The report from the panel containing its findings, titled ‘Report of the Committee on Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma’s JAMB Score Controversy,’ was jointly signed by members of the panel and addressed to the state governor.
The panel directed Mmesoma to tender an unreserved written apology to JAMB, her school, Anglican Girls Secondary School, Uruagu, Nnewi, and the Anambra State Government.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.