The Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB), has insisted that Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme who forged her 2023 UTME result and gave herself 362 marks instead of the 246 she scored, will be prosecuted because she consciously planned and executed the criminal act which was capable of destroying the integrity of the Board as well as plunge the nation into sectional crisis.
Dr. Fabian Benjamin, Head of Protocol and Public Relations of JAMB, reiterated this in an interview with Nationwide Reports on Saturday.
The JAMB’s spokesman also took a swipe at the former Minister for Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili for doubting the Board’s findings on the matter but rather demanding for forensic investigation.
Nationwide Reports wanted to know what next JAMB plans to do, in view of the confessions of Mmesoma as contained in the report by the panel set up by Anambra state government.
The report submitted to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Friday as made public by the state commissioner for Information, indicted Mmesona for manipulation and forging her result, commended JAMB for professionally handling the matter and recommended that the student immediately apologise to JAMB for her actions.
But reacting, Dr. Benjamin told Nationwide Reports that the Board was not expecting anything different from the outcome of the Anambra State Government’s probe because it had no reason to doubt its foolproof facilities and apps which he said have proved to be top notch.
Describing Mmesoma as a ‘first class criminal,’ the JAMB spokesman said she deserves the highest level of condemnation by all well-meaning Nigerians as well as prosecution with maximum punishment to serve as deterrent to others.
He said that Mmesoma’s actions were deliberately planned and executed with sinister motives.
“Her appearance at the panel set up by the Anambra State Government shows she has criminal intents. Her pretences of remorse was an afterthought and a decoy to deceive the public.
“Of course she had no choice because it was clear to her that there was no hiding place as she was overwhelmed by the evidences against her.
“Every criminal will certainly feign remorsefulness as a last resort. We intend to bring the full wrath of the law to bear on her so that other young people in the country would know that there are consequences for crime.
“Therefore, apart from the three-year ban from our exams, we intend to arrest and prosecute her.
“What she did was a deliberate plan to pull down JAMB and damage its integrity that has been established through the best quality service epitomised by the Registrar and management.
“Secondly, her action was capable of causing sectional crisis with unguarded utterances of some people who took the line of ethnic and religious sentiments on the matter,” Fabian said and called out specifically, the former Education Minister.
“The reactions of many otherwise respectable people on the matter were quite unbelievable as they were capable of igniting sectional tension.
“For example, Oby Ezekwesili was a disappointment here. As a former Education Minister, one expected her to know more about issues like examinations. For a former education Minister to doubt JAMB’s position as well as called for forensic investigation, in spite of our public presentations, was quite unexpected of someone of her public standing. Was she saying that as an examination regulatory body JAMB has no powers to carry out investigations and impose sanctions? How can a former Education Minister doubt the credibility of the Board’s verdict in a matter like that? It was a disappointment she opted to play to the gallery,” he stated
Source: Nationwide