Anambra State Government on Monday instituted a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, a 16 years old student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, had earlier become popular on social media after she was said to have scored 362 as the highest.
This has also endeared her to many positive and good-spirited individuals who congratulated and appreciated her in one way or the other, including the Founder of Innoson Motors, Chief Chukwuma who awarded her a 3 million naira university scholarship, a money he immediately paid into a dedicated account.
However, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which conducts the UTME, 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.
A press release by the Anambra State Ministry of Education, signed by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Nnaemeka Egwuonwu stated that the investigation would unravel the truth about how Miss Ejikeme got her result.
Part of the release read: “Education Commissioner, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh regretted that the development was very embarrassing, coming at a time when the Soludo led administration is repositioning in her avowed determination to get education right in the State.
“Meanwhile the Anambra State Government will continue to celebrate Nkechinyere Umeh, who was declared the highest by JAMB, having scored a cummulative 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.”
According to Egwuonwu, the celebration of Nkechinyere Umeh by Anambra State Government, followed the declaration by JAMB that she scored the highest in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations UTME.
“The State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh had revealed that the JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede had disclosed in Abuja, at the 2023 Policy Meeting for Tertiary Institutions, that Nkechinyere Umeh scored 360 marks to emerge the best,” he concluded.
