Osita Chidoka, former minister of aviation, says he will
plead for leniency on behalf of Ejikeme Mmesoma if she comes clean on her UTME
result.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had said
the student manipulated her result to “deceive the public to fraudulently obtain
a scholarship and other recognitions”.
The board also said the student “actually got 249 in the
exam and not 362” as widely assumed.
Amid the controversy, the exam body withdrew her result and
suspended her from partaking in UTME for the next three years.
Mmesoma initially dismissed the forgery allegation but later
admitted that JAMB actually notified her that she got 249 in the exam.
The Anambra pupil took the exam at Nkemefuna Foundation
(Thomas Chidoka Centre) owned by Chidoka.
Addressing the issue in a Twitter thread on Wednesday, the
ex-minister said he became suspicious immediately he saw Mmesoma’s result due
to some “discrepancies”.
“I observed two
significant red flags when I saw her result online. First, since 2021, the JAMB
portal stopped referring to our center as Thomas Chidoka Center for Human
Development. The correct name on the JAMB portal and the Main Examination Slip
is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development),” he
wrote.
“Due to the difference in our CAC registration details, JAMB
insisted we change to Nkemefuna Foundation with Thomas Chidoka in a bracket as
an identifier. We implemented the name change in 2021. As is to be expected,
the Main Examination Slip bore the core name, Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas
Chidoka Centre), but the result she presented had just Thomas Chidoka Centre
without the prefix, Nkemefuna Foundation. This error raised my suspicion about
the genuineness of the presented result.
“The second red flag was the result template. A cursory
review of some of those who took the last examination at our center showed a
different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB
watermarks, and no mention of the name of the examination center.
“I gave the young Nmesoma the benefit of the doubt and
waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously
not the approved JAMB result template used in 2023. Without that explanation, I
knew it was a fake result.
“Nmesoma should come
clean and explain how she got that result and who led her down that path. If
she does that, I will lend my voice to beg JAMB to note her age and show more
leniency. A child her age deserves a second chance after she shows remorse and
demonstrates that she has learnt the value of integrity.”
Chidoka said the incident reflects “the general level of
distrust in our national institutions”.
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