John Ani
It ordinarily wouldn’t have been unsavoury for one to choose one’s State Governor or President as a role model, but Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme, a resident of Nnewi, Anambra State, native of Uduma in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State has been deluged by salvos of abuses culminating in emotional torture for forging her UME result-an art she supposedly learnt from her role models which she thought (believing she has repented) is open sesame for success/greatness.
As Oscar Wilde astutely said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
Mmesoma in all honesty, could be better than just a mediocre; it’s simply the case of a wrong choice of rogue model, sorry, role model.
Albeit she is visibly penitent but efforts should be made to discourage our youth from this kind of moral malfeasance. Importantly too, crime shouldn’t be left to Karma alone, and for good measure, we need to let our children draw salutary lessons from Mmesoma’s case.
It is worth mentioning that an Igbo prominent son, Osita Chidoka who doused the ethnic colouration wrongly ascribed to the UTME result forgery saga by giving good reasons said the result could be fake, and he was correct. We should be bold enough, just like Osita Chidoka, to condemn evil at all times devoid of prejudice to who the evil perpetrators are or where they come from.
But who could have masterminded this UTME result forgery? Could it be that snake that in the past was alleged to have swallowed JAMB’s N36 million or the one that connived with Eve for the fall of man? This forgery is certainly an inspired evil and never a kid’s base instinct.
The problem is that we don’t see other forgeries in the same reckoning as the case of the UME result. JAMB talked, we listened, believed and the accused had to confess, but NYSC disclaimed and we are still blindly arguing- DIFFERENT COLOURS, ONE PEOPLE (apologies to Lucky Dube)
In Enugu State, NYSC made a point-blank disclaimer against the discharge certificate that the state governor, Mr Peter Mbah is parading, and those who were bold enough to condemn the previous cases of forgery suddenly turned a volte-face to this one.
Most religious leaders in Enugu State that claim to see spiritual things suddenly turned blind to physical ones. I suppose the NYSC certificate forgery is a carnal thing and the ‘men of God’ do not live carnal lives!
If one cannot comfortably convert a penalty, converting a free kick will be more difficult. Are these guys defenders of J.L Mackie’s (1977) Moral Error Theory?
In a similar vein, those who dwell in academia are silent on the NYSC certificate forgery allegation and selective in the academic misconducts they see as heinous.
Even the Nigerian Bar Association needs to reassure Nigerians that it still promotes bar integrity and still metes out disciplinary actions to its erring members.
As a matter of fact, I do not come to grips with how a proven certificate forger could be awarded an honorary doctorate degree and worse still, by a university belonging to the church. Where lies honour in forgery?
This tellingly illustrates how fast our ethos and mores are eroding. In the 1850 novel “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester Prynne was convicted of the crime of adultery, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her life. The letter “A” stood for adultery.
I am afraid our Governor, Mr Peter Mbah in like manner, will earn the good people of Enugu State the letter “F” which will stand for forgery!
Let’s nip it in the bud now!
John Ani, jonchiagan@gmail.com, writes from Nkpologu, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.