Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board
Fradulent app developer risks dismissal- UTME. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to probe Ejikeme Mmesoma’s suspected fabrication of the UTME result.
The resolution was carried during plenary by the House after a motion filed by Abiante Awaji-Inombek, a Peoples Democratic Party politician from Rivers State.
Ejikeme, a 19-year-old Anambra student, was in the news after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board accused him of forging UTME results. Elikeme claimed to have scored 362 points, compared to the 249 registered by JAMB.
The MPs also asked JAMB to lift the student’s three-year ban awaiting the conclusion of the probe.
Leading the motion debate on Wednesday, Abiante claimed that JAMB was granting itself the authority to accuse, probe, and punish without providing a fair hearing.
“The person in question does not have the opportunity to sit here with us to be heard. “She may not have the opportunity to convene press conferences, as JAMB is attempting,” Abiante remarked.
Sada Soli, a resident of Katsina State, added, “This girl was manipulated by some individuals in other to take advantage of her talents in order to cash in on the privileges that come with the highest score.”
Igariwey Enwo of Ebonyi State, who also spoke, said JAMB’s approach had “failed the test of institutional procedure.”
When the presiding officer of the House, Benjamin Kalu, put the motion to a voice vote, it was unanimously approved.
As a result, the House formed an ad hoc committee to look into the situation, including other affected results, and report back within three weeks.
Meanwhile, JAMB announced that it had tracked down the creator of the program used to manipulate the results of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Fabian Benjamin, the board’s spokesperson, confirmed this in an interview with The PUNCH.
Benjamin also mentioned that the developer would lose his admittance to the university where he is now enrolled.
“Let me tell you something,” he added, “we have discovered the developer of the app used for fake UTME result upgrade, and he is a student.” He will be denied admittance.”
Concerning Ejikeme, Benjamin stated that the board had evidence against her and urged her family to do the right thing by admitting before “it is too late.”
“Let her tell the truth before it’s too late,” he urged, “because by the time we get to where we’re going, it’ll be too late.” I say this with great seriousness and conviction.
Meanwhile, Mmesoma verified on Wednesday that she received an automated text message from JAMB informing her that her score was 249.
Mmesoma stated this during an interview with Sunrise Daily on Channels Television, which The PUNCH watched.
JAMB’s spokesperson had earlier revealed that the candidate sent a series of messages to the board’s automated telecoms system, including the results showing an aggregate of 362.
Responding, Mmesoma said the only SMS she sent to JAMB was through its support system, stating, “That’s the only SMS I sent there.”
Asked if she got any feedback, she said, “They didn’t reply. If they check their JAMB Support System, they would see that I sent a text message. They didn’t reply.”
Mmesoma said, “Yes,” to the assertion that she utilized an Airtel line, but “not through USSD code.”
“The one I checked through the USSD code is one of 360 (sic) that I saw,” she added.
She agreed with the claim that the JAMB response showed her score as 249.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “After all was said and done, I discovered that I had received 249. I sent them a text message there to know what really happened — the JAMB Support System. They’ll see it if they go into their system.”