‘I feel pain for letting you down’ — Mmesoma apologises to JAMB
Ejikeme Mmesoma has apologised to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over the alleged forgery of her unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) result. Mmesoma spoke on Wednesday when she appeared before an ad hoc committee of the house of representatives investigating the alleged forgery of result. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, and top directors of the board also appeared before the committee. Ejikeme pleaded for leniency for the ban imposed on her to be lifted. “I feel a debt of pain for letting you down,” he said. Before her appearance before the house ad hoc committee, an Anambra committee tasked with investigating the controversy had reported that the candidate admitted to faking her results. In May, Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra state, gained popularity after she was purported to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME. Although JAMB did not announce her as the overall best candidate, Mmesoma was widely celebrated. Innocent Chukwuma, the automobile businessman, awarded the candidate a scholarship worth N3 million. JAMB would later declare, contrary to Mmesoma’s claims, that the student scored 249, not 362. The exam body said she faked the results to mislead the public, so a panel was tasked with probing the matter. The panel of inquiry said Mmesoma was expected to tender a written apology to JAMB, the Anglican Girls Secondary, and the Anambra state government.