Mmesoma: HURIWA flays JAMB, calls for proper investigations

By Fortune Eromosele, Abuja

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Tuesday flayed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB over its stance of one Miss Ejikeme Mmesoma for allegedly faking her results and called for proper investigations into the matter.

Vanguard reports that JAMB had on Tuesday, announced the suspension of Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma from writing its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, for three years over alleged forgery of her 2023 result.

It insisted that the result being paraded by Miss Mmesoma was forged, explaining that it had since stopped issuing Notification of Result slips after the 2021 UTME for the simple reason that candidates were falsifying them.

Mmesoma was awarded N3 million scholarship for the 362 UTME score claimed by her. But JAMB had said Mmesoma increased her scores with a software and that her real score was 249.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, called on JAMB to conduct thorough investigations before running into conclusions as the image and rights of Mmesoma were at stake.

HURIWA condemned JAMB’s actions and called on advocacy groups, the federal government and well-meaning Nigerians to speak up for Mmesoma saying that her rights were being violated.

HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “We stand firm in condemning JAMB’s actions and call for justice to be served. “The recent case of Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma’s alleged fake JAMB score has ignited a firestorm of public outrage across national dailies and social media platforms. JAMB, without proper substantiation, accused Miss Ejikeme of manipulating her UTME result to fraudulently obtain scholarships and recognition.

“It is worth noting that JAMB has failed to provide crucial details, such as how the alleged manipulation occurred, when it happened, whether it was an individual act or involved a group of individuals, or even the specific app or software supposedly used to hack JAMB’s database or server. It is clear that the distinction between manual and electronic manipulation has been deliberately blurred by JAMB.

“By launching these baseless accusations against Miss Ejikeme, JAMB has not only undermined her reputation but has also shown a complete disregard for her rights as a child, as outlined in the Child Rights Act of 2003.

“Furthermore, we call upon the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Education and the National Human Rights Commission, to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter. JAMB must be held to the highest standards of transparency, integrity, and fairness in order to restore public confidence in its operations.”