Edor wondered why the JAMB made the issue a public affair without conducting a proper investigation
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Calabar, Dr John Edor, has counselled the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination (JAMB), to end the media trial against Anambra schoolgirl, Mmesoma Ejikeme.
He gave the advice during a recent interview with DAILY POST, where he told JAMB to stop subjecting candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), to public ridicule without proper investigation.
Mmesoma, a 16-year-old student of Anglican Girls secondary school in Nnewi, Anambra State, was accused of manipulating her result by the examination body after claiming she got the highest score in the 2023 UTME.
After a series of claims and counterclaims from JAMB and the student, well-meaning Nigerians including the former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, waded into the saga and demanded an independent forensic investigation.
Speaking via her social media page, Ezekwesili tweeted: “This saga between Mmesoma Ejikeme and @JAMBHQ requires an Independent Tech investigation to unearth all facts. Listening to her in this video, it is reasonable to request a forensic investigation to help reveal what really happened. I have reached out to the Registrar of JAMB.”
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Similarly, the ASUU Chairman of University of Calabar chapter, John Edor, has called for an end to the media trial of the student.
According to him, JAMB hastily made the issue a public discussion, when a proper investigation would have shown if Mmesoma hacked into their portal or not.
He said: “The social media trial is regrettable, and it was originated by JAMB to disown the young student who claimed to have the highest score.
“I think that JAMB should be a little bit more circumspect, they should have done due diligence and compliance with due process before bringing it to public space that the candidate forged the result.
“If the candidate forged the report, it would imply that the candidate hacked into the JAMB portal, which in itself, would be an indictment on the security of JAMB software. The software does not have the necessary capacity to withstand external invasion.
“At this point, I would say we should allow the necessary authorities and agencies to follow due process, investigate what actually caused the variation in result, was the software hacked and by whom?
“If it was not hacked, how come there was a difference? Was there a technical glitch on the JAMB software, among other issues?
“However, it will be difficult for me to make a complete statement on this issue until the relevant people have a conclusion.”
Prior to the latest face-off between JAMB and the Anambra student, the examination body in 2019, accused an 18-year-old, Kingsley Unekwe, of altering his UTME result from 201 to 269 and his result was ultimately cancelled.
The Board accused Unekwe of altering his score to meet the cut-off points to study Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Again in 2021, a 19-year-old candidate of UTME was arrested by the police for allegedly tampering with his result.
Speaking on the issue, JAMB spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, said the arrest followed the suspect’s claim of scoring 380 in the examination conducted in June.
He said: “After several inquiries, 265 kept appearing as his score as against the 380 score.”
