How non-existent candidate, others faked 2023 UTME high scores ― JAMB

Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma and Innoson Motors Chairman, Innocent Chukwuma

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has revealed how some candidates manipulated their results in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

JAMB said some candidates manipulated their UTME results to present themselves to Nigerians as the best candidates in the examination.

The examination body noted that many of the candidates celebrated on social media for being the high scorers in the 2023 UTME are fake, adding that some of these candidates obtained far lower scores than they are claiming and had used some software packages to manipulate their results to deceive Nigerians.

The board, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday, July 2, said a candidate from Anambra State, Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who claimed to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME and was awarded a N3 million scholarship by the Chairman of Innoson Motors, Dr Innocent Chukwuma, scored 249 in the examination.

Benjamin said: “She was even set to be honoured by the Anambra State Government when one of its top officials put a call through to JAMB to confirm her claim only for the Board to reveal that Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma had actually scored 249 and not 362 she claimed. She had manipulated her UTME result to deceive the public to fraudulently obtain scholarship and other recognitions.

“The Board would like to state that the likes of Mmesoma are still out there deceiving those who are always in a hurry to bestow honours on candidates without confirming from the Board.

“A similar case was that of one Atung Gerald in Kaduna, who claimed to have scored 380. His ethnic group had taken the issue up requesting that he should be given special recognition only for the Board to disappoint them with the incontestable fact that Atung never obtain the 2023 UTME application documents not to talk of sitting the examination.

“The Board would, therefore, want to advise the public to always cross check these claims by candidates with the Board before rushing to honour them with undeserving awards as certain software have been created to fake their version of their results and put same out in the public space for fun and this is what the sponsors of these candidates are using to defraud good-spirited Nigerians such as Dr. Innocent, the founder of Innoson Motors, who sincerely desires to celebrate academic excellence by investing in the education of a young Nigerian.

“We commended the likes of Dr. Innocent Chukwuma and wish to encourage other Nigerians, who desire to invest in the future of genuine youngsters, never to be discouraged but to always ensure that they get the authentic results from the Board as done by the Anambra State Ministry of Education, otherwise they will be celebrating criminality as this is just another new fraudulent method in town.

“However, these candidates only succeed in manipulating what they are holding as the authentic results are with the Board and would be transmitted to their schools of choice at the appropriate time.”

The JAMB spokesperson added that Mmesoma has sent a message to the board’s platform to request her UTME result after which she manually inflated her scores and pasted the same on the 2022 UTME result sheet.

He stated: “Unknown to her, the Board had changed the design of the 2023 UTME result sheet. Her original result remains 249 as nothing can change that. With this her ignoble act, Miss Mmesoma would be prosecuted and her original result withdrawn.

“This is not all as the Board would, in due course, investigate all candidates laying claims to higher scores than they actually obtained. Once discovered, such candidates’ original results would be withdrawn forthwith and they would be handed over to relevant security agencies for prosecution.”

The Star