IZUNNA OKAFOR
Anambra State Government has reacted to the controversy trailing the results of Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who was said to have faked and manipulated her result as the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Recall that Mmesoma recently became a celebrity after her 362 UTME score went viral as the overall best scorer in the 2023 UTME examination. This also endeared her to many positive and good-spirited individuals who congratulated and appreciated her in one way or the other.
However, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which conducts the UTME, over the weekend, declared Mmesoma’s 362 UTME score as fake, and revealed that her score was manually manipulated and inflated from her original score of 249 to 362.
JAMB also announced the immediate withdrawal of Mmesoma’s UTME score, while also declaring Anambra student, Miss Nkechinyere Umeh, as the authentic highest scorer in the 2023 UTME, with cumulative score of 360.
It was in line with and in adherence to this recent declaration by JAMB that the Anambra State Government led by Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, recently awarded a university scholarship to Miss Umeh, an action that made many people wonder why the State Government skipped Miss Mmesoma who scored 362 and awarded scholarship to Miss Umeh who scored 360.
However, the recent declaration of Mmesoma’s 362 result as fake by JAMB did not only vindicate and justify Governor Soludo’s action, but also generated a chain of reactions and counter-reactions from Nigerians on what actually transpired. This controversy has also attracted the reaction of the Anambra State Government.
The reaction was contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the State Ministry of Education, Mr. Nnaemeka Egwuonwu, in which he also revealed the actions already taken by the State Government about the controversy.
According to him, the State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, in a media chat, described the controversy as ‘very embarrassing’, and regretted that it was coming at a time when Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is repositioning things in pursuance of its avowed determination to get education right in the State.
While revealing that the State Government has continued to celebrate Miss Nkechinyere Umeh, who JAMB declared as the authentic highest scorer in the 2023 UTME with cumulative score of 360; Mr. Egwuonwu further added that the State Government has instituted a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing Mmesoma’s UTME score.
“Meanwhile the Anambra State Government has continued to celebrate Nkechinyere Umeh, who was declared the highest by JAMB, having scored a cumulative mark of 360, while security agents are investigating the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Ejikeme Mmesoma, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest,” he said.