Anambra Schoolgirl, Mmesoma Lucky To Escape Sentence For Forgery; 8 Students Presently In Jail For Same Crime — JAMB
The registrar mentioned that a student who committed a similar offence like Mmesoma in Ondo was sentenced to one year jail term, adding that about 30 others were arrested for a similar crime during the 2024 UTME.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has stated that 19-year-old Mmesoma Ejikeme, who forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, was lucky not to have been convicted.
This was mentioned by the JAMB registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede while briefing stakeholders about the organisation’s activities for the year 2024.
The registrar mentioned that a student who committed a similar offence like Mmesoma in Ondo was sentenced to one year jail term, adding that about 30 others were arrested for a similar crime during the 2024 UTME.
He said, “Of Mmesoma’s case, Mmesoma was just lucky, if she is lucky at all. But you know that her colleagues were sentenced. I gave you an example of what happened in Ondo, with one who did a similar thing. She was sentenced to one-year imprisonment. This is to serve as a deterrence for others. For 2024, more than 30 were arrested, eight now are in custody. They used to be 30.”
Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, made the headlines after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board called her out for fraudulently manipulating her UTME score from 249 to 362, thereby falsely parading herself as UTME top scorer for 2023.
Before admitting the forgery, Mmesoma had engaged JAMB in accusation and counter-accusation, with the exam body slamming a three-year ban on her.
She also appeared before a panel of the House of Representatives in Abuja, where she tendered an apology to the exam body and pleaded for leniency.
While briefing journalists, the Anambra State Commissioner for Education recalled that a panel set up by the state to investigate the matter recommended that the teenager should be made to undergo a psychological counselling and therapy.
