Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma, a 19-year-old student from Anambra State, appeared before a House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on alleged Manipulation of Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) result in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to reports, Mmesoma presented a letter of apology before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee, asking for leniency from JAMB for manipulating her 2023 UTME result and dragging the Board to ridicule in the process.
Mmesoma had claimed she scored 362 as against her actual score of 249 in the 2023 UTME JAMB portal.
Mmesoma said she admitted that what she did was wrong, adding that, it was the reason she came to present her letter of apology, titled “Letter of Profound Apology”.
According to her, “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, “ignorance played a significant role in my action, 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 misdemeanor”.
She said it was not in her character to manipulate results and bring public institutions to ridicule, adding that she had embraced genuine repentance.
Mmesoma said she would willingly accept the recommendation of the ad-hoc committee, adding that she had accepted to rectify her mistake and become a better person.
In her words, “I want you to tamper justice with mercy.”
Prof Ishaq Oloyede, the Registrar, JAMB, 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.
He said eight centres in Anambra State are currently under investigation over Mmesoma’s case, adding that contrary to insinuations, there was no loophole in JAMB.
He called on the public to be careful in making unfounded statements and have confidence in public institutions, while commending JAMB in its processes and procedure.
According to him, JAMB has introduced innovation that will help to reduce human interference in its operational processes, thereby building confidence in the public.
He said, “Mmesoma’s case was an amateur, there was one falsification by a candidate that I almost went mad.”
Rep. Sanda Soli, the Chairman of the Committee, 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.
