‘It’s Unfair, Not My Fault’ Ejikeme Mmesoma Reacts To JAMB Three-Year Ban

Ejikeme Mmesoma, the student who was accused by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of forging her UTME result has said the three-year ban instituted against her by the board is “not fair.”

Mmesoma and JAMB have been countering each other with opposing claims.

While she claims her “results notification” slip for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination showing a score of 362 out of 400 was printed from the JAMB results portal, the exam body argues she is parading a forged result on a template it discontinued in 2021. The board said her official score is 249.

JAMB through its Spokesman, Fabian Benjamin on Tuesday, insisted that the 19-year-old result is “patently fake”, saying it had withdrawn her result and consequently barred her from writing the examination for the next three years.

However, while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday with her father, Romanus, Mmesoma said she should be blamed for the controversy.

“It’s not my fault that I printed my result like that and they said that I forged my result. It’s not my fault. So, them banning it is not fair,” she said.

The JAMB spokesman had said its record indicated the candidate had sent a series of messages to the board’s automated telecoms system, including the results showing an aggregate of 362.

However, Mmesoma said the only SMS she sent to JAMB was through its support system: “That’s the only SMS I sent there.”

She said she did not get any feedback “They didn’t reply. If they check their JAMB Support System, they would see that I sent a text message. They didn’t reply.”

On the claim that she used an Airtel line, Mmesoma replied: “Yes,” but she added it was “not through USSD code”. 

“The one I checked through the USSD code is the one of 360 (sic) that I saw,” she explained further.

She agreed to the claim that the feedback she got from JAMB showed her score as 249.

“Yes,” she said. “After all said and done, I now saw that I got 249. I sent them a text message there to know what really happened — the JAMB Support System. If they go to their system, they will see it there.”

Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported that the National Association of Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has condemned the ban issued to Mmesoma by JAMB.