Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma speaking at the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Allegations of Manipulation of her UTME Result.
The 19-year-old candidate of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Ejikeme Mmesoma, who is at the centre of controversy over manipulation of her result, has tendered a profound apology to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and it’s Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede.
Mmesoma, who appeared before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Allegations of Manipulation of her UTME Result, in Abuja, publicly admitted her involvement and tendered a written apology before the committee.
She claimed that ignorance played a significant role in her action and only got to know the full implication of her actions after manipulating her result.
She said: “It is not in my character to indulge in such misbehavior”, stressing that this was her first time, and pleaded with JAMB to tamper justice with mercy.
Earlier, JAMB Registrar, Professor Oloyede, harped on what he described as the “near impossibility” of faking JAMB’s results because, as he put it, they are stored offline and not in “cloud”.
The JAMB boss assured the committee that the board’s Central Admission Processing System is “full proof” and no human interference has been recorded since 2017 when it was installed.
He added that the board has made “tremendous progress” in the area of its CAPS.
He affirmed that there were no loopholes or vulnerabilities identified in the JAMB process.
“To prevent such in the future, there is need for members of the public to be careful in making unfounded statements and for them to have confidence in public institutions,” Professor Oloyede said, adding that “the public should commend JAMB for its process and procedure.”
The committee, Chaired by Rt Hon Sada Soli, APC, Katsina State, had agreed not to subject Mmesoma to public testimony but reversed its decision upon discovering that she was 19.
Commending Mmesoma, her father and lawyers for showing up at the hearing, the committee, however, advised her to stay off “bad influence” and learn from her mistakes.
Radio Nigeria Recalls that on July 5, the House of Representatives set up an ad-hoc committee to probe allegations of manipulation of UTME result by Ms Ejikeme
RN
