How We Found Out Mmesoma’s UTME Result Is Fake - Anambra Govt

 

The Anambra State Government has said it was the one that alerted the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board about Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma's alleged fake UTME result.

 

Recall that she was said to have scored 362 in her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME before she was reported caught.

 

Mmesoma is a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi.

 

The claim against the student comes after the chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Chief Innocent Chukwuma had earlier announced N3 million scholarship to the girl.

 

However, Inoson said she can no longer access the fund until the investigation is completed.

 

Mmesoma became an instant celebrity after her alleged 362 scores went viral as the overall best score in the 2023 UTME.

 

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which conducts the UTME, had on Sunday, declared Mmesoma’s 362 UTME score as fake, and revealed that her score was manually inflated, as her original score was 249. JAMB also announced the immediate withdrawal of Mmesoma’s UTME score.

 

Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh said she was the one that raised the alarm after the girl honoured an invitation in the process of the plan by the state government to honour her.

 

Chuma- Udeh said that after Mmesoma’s result was published online, she invited the girl for the purpose of a recognition by the state government, adding that when Mmesoma brought her result, she observed that it was not directly from the JAMB printout.

 

According to her, it was at that point that she became suspicious, which made her to get in touch with JAMB to confirm the result, stating that she was taken aback when JAMB told her that what was circulating was not its result.

 

She said it was at that point that her ministry turned back the girl, while JAMB began investigation into the matter.

 

Meanwhile, the founder of Innoson Motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who announced N3 million university scholarship award to the 16-year-old Mmesoma shortly after her result went viral, has said that with the latest development, the girl can no longer access the fund, although the money had been paid into a dedicated account.

 

Describing the revelation as very unfortunate, Chukwuma said he was excited when he heard that the young girl came tops in the UMTE, especially when he found out that she studied in a public school.

 

He said: “When I was told that a student of a public school recorded the highest score in the JAMB examination, I sent for the principal of the school and the principal confirmed to me that it was true that the girl scored the mark.

 

According to Chukwuma, “the little girl I saw looked so innocent and I can’t believe that she could manipulate her score,” adding, “If I find out that she deliberately faked her result, I will cancel the scholarship because I can’t encourage a criminal as such a person cannot be useful to the society.”

He, however, said that if he finds out that she did not have a hand in the manipulation and that the score was given to her in error or that someone manipulated the result for her without her knowledge, he would not cancel the scholarship.

 

He also explained that he would make inquiry to find out what actually happened.