After the conclusion of the saga between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its candidate, Mmesoma Ejikeme, Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon, Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia and Osagie Otabor, akure, look at past cases of such forgery and whether they will be finally nip in the bud.
At the height of the controversy between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its candidate, Mmesoma Ejikeme, who sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), one of those who supported the stance of the board was former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola.
Okebukola said the case of Mmesoma should be a warning to potential UTME cheats. According to him, the Mmesoma’s episode had shown that JAMB had moved several steps ahead of them.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, he said many people were unaware of the thoroughness of JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, in promoting the integrity of JAMB examinations.
The story
JAMB had in a statement by its spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, claimed that the student scored 249 in her result. But Mmesoma stood her ground, saying she scored 362 out of the total marks of 400.
Benjamin had described the result being flaunted by Mmesoma as obsolete. In his statement, the JAMB spokesman reassured Nigerians that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised as the candidate simply falsified a copy of a result slip of a candidate named “Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle”, who sat for UTME in 2021 and scored 138.
“It is also instructive to note that the candidate, in her statement, has inadvertently revealed the rightful owner of the result she is parading when she pointed out that the QR code on the result slip showed the actual owner of the said result before she peddled a lie in an attempt to obfuscate the truth,” Benjamin said.
However, a source in JAMB told The Nation that the candidate and three others were discovered to have perpetrated the “act” (the forgery). The other offenders, according to the source, “decided to disappear” when confronted with facts. It was gathered by our correspondent that Mmesoma and “her collaborators” decided to confront the board’s declaration that she had forged result for claiming she scored 362.
But, after being presented with incontrovertible evidence, the 19-year-old candidate from Anambra State admitted that her score according to a text message she received from the Board was 249.
To serve as a deterrent to others, JAMB barred Mmesoma from sitting its examination for the next three years over the alleged forgery.
Also, a panel of inquiry set up by the Anambra State Government confirmed that Mmesoma manipulated her result, where she actually scored 249 as against 362.
The eight-page report of the panel also recommended that Mmesoma immediately tender an unreserved written apology to the board, the school (Anglican Girls’ Secondary School, Uruagu Nnewi), and the state government and should undergo psychological counselling and therapy.
Following the eight-member panel’s report, Governor Chukwuma Soludo handed the pupil for psychological assistance.
Chairman of Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company Innocent Chukwuma also withdrew the N3 million scholarship he awarded the pupil for her “performance in the JAMB exam”.
Okebukola, who is the immediate Chairman Governing Board of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), in a statement made available to reporters in Abuja, said the discovery of the forgery was a confirmation that “Prof. Oloyede and his able team at JAMB “are jumps ahead of such unscrupulous persons”.
He called on educational institutions and examination bodies to adopt the Oloyede model and techniques of stamping out examination malpractice in the school and public examinations in the country.
Oloyede on result forgery
Oloyede, when contacted by The Nation during the ranging controversy, said the board is used to Mmesoma’s and her collaborators’ antics. He insisted that JAMB had concluded its investigations into the result forgery.
“The case is an everyday occurrence and it has always been treated. Even tomorrow, there will be many of them.
“At present, there is an industry faking results and, unfortunately, they cannot penetrate JAMB system, reasons being that our system is fool-proofed and we will prove it any time,” the JAMB registrar said.
But, Mr. Romanus Ejikeme, father of Mmesoma, has tendered apology to Nigerians and JAMB.
Cases of result forgery
Four suspects, who were docked for Registration Impersonation and Examination malpractices during the 2023 UTME examination, broke down in tears after the court yesterday extend hearing of their bail application to November, this year.
The four suspects – Adesuyi Feranmi, Timilehin Akinwale, Olayinka Mustapha and Peter Okereke – were first remanded to prison custody in May after they pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
A JAMB official, Smith Osenath Ayodele, had told the Federal High Court sitting in Akure how Feranmi was arrested for examination impersonation.
Feranmi reportedly committed the offence on April 28 at Amable Nig Ltd CBT Centre in Owo, during the 2023 JAMB examination.
He pleaded not guilty to the one count charge bothering on impersonation preferred against him
But Smith told the court she served as Biometric Registration Officer at the centre while testifying as a prosecution witness.
She said Feranmi approached her to verify his thumbprint before proceeding to write the examination but that the picture displayed from the thumbprint was different from Feranmi.
According to her, “I questioned him and he said he is same person on the picture. I asked him again and he repeated he is same person. After analysing everything, I asked him to step aside. I called other examination officers and personnel of the Security and Civil Defence Corps. They checked everything and tried questioning him. He later confessed that he was helping another candidate.”
Prosecuting counsel, Moses Osimhen, applied for a date to enable him call more witnesses.
Justice T. B. Adegoke reserved ruling on the bail application by counsel to Feranmi and said the date would be communicated to parties in the suit.
Justice Adegoke also adjourned till November 13th, 2023, ruling for trial and bail application for three persons arrested for UTME registration impersonation.
The suspects are Timilehin Akinwale, Olayinka Mustapha and Peter Okereke.
They committed the impersonation act on Feb.15th, 2023 at Aina Awaw International College,Ilu Abo, Akure, which was a CBT Centre for JAMB registration and examination.
The suspects and their relatives broke down in tears when the judge announced the adjournment date as they were first remanded to prison custody till May 24.
Indeed, JAMB over the years had caught several candidates, who falsified their results, some Nigerians were not easily convinced by the evidence presented by the board in the case of Mmesoma.
In 2019, JAMB withheld the results of more than 3,000 candidates before later releasing them after allegations against the examination body by candidates who claimed the results they received through the SMS differed from what was uploaded on JAMB’s website. JAMB later constituted a panel to probe the allegation before the results of the candidates were released.
JAMB had also accused some candidates of falsifying their results.
In 2019, a UTME candidate, Kingsley Unekwe, 18, confessed to upgrading his UTME score from 201 to 269 during the hearing of a panel set up by JAMB to probe the cases of what many called “double results”.
JAMB had informed the public at the time that many candidates had inflated their scores through the activities of scammers, insisting that they were parading fake results.
In the year under review, JAMB arrested a 19-year-old candidate, Adah Eche, for allegedly upgrading his UTME scores from 153 to 290. After getting his scores inflated, the candidate wrote a letter to JAMB, accusing it of making a mistake in the scores earlier released. Upon investigation, details of the fraudulent transaction were found on the candidate’s phone. Other details found on his phone were of him encouraging other candidates who scored below the cut-off marks to upgrade theirs as well for them to gain admission. JAMB also accused another candidate, Cletus Kokowa, of inflating his result from 162 to 206 after paying the sum of N10,000 to a syndicate.
Another culprit was Rejoice Mordi, 19, who was accused of altering her score from 164 to 264. Rejoice revealed to JAMB’s panel that she got the fake results from an agent identified as Iyanu Oluwa through WhatsApp.
Also in 2021, a UTME candidate, Ifesinachi John, 19, claimed he scored 380 in the UTME. He alleged that result checker kept showing 265. The candidate and his father, John Ifenkpam, accused JAMB of altering the candidate’s result. The father petitioned the Board through his lawyer. He demanded N1 billion damages and that his son be allowed to retake the test. It was later found that the candidate saved his sister’s phone number with 55019 – the shortcode that automatically sends UTME results to candidates’ phone numbers when requested. The candidate later confessed and pleaded for mercy. JAMB later handed over the boy to the police for probe.
Over the year, JAMB had found that some Direct Entry candidates presented fake A-Level results, which are usually discovered after they must have gained admission into their chosen universities.
JAMB disaccredits CBT centres in Aba
The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has came hard on Computer-Based Test (CBT) in Aba in Abia State as they were banned from participating in the just-concluded examination for prospective universities admission candidates.
However, exams held in few centres in other parts of the state, including Umuahia, Bende and Umunneochi.
The Nation investigation showed that the ban on Aba, which has more CBT centres than other parts of the state, added pressure to other CBT centres in the state and neighbouring Imo, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states.
Though there was no official information from the JAMB in the state on why they suspended CBT exams in Aba, our correspondent gathered that the exam body banned the centres in the capital because of alleged sharp practices by some CBT operators, which the exam body stated was against the laws of the examination body.
Fake JAMB Results App
An app made for fun has becomes a tool for crime. This is the case of a JAMB dubbed app originally made for friends to have fun. Many didn’t know the app until Mmesoma came to the scene.
An investigative newspaper earlier exposed how JAMB Fun App, an application available on the Google Playstore, may have been used to help Mmesoma fabricate her result.
With the cases of falsification of results by UTME candidates through the app, one should expect more cases of forgery by candidates who want to test the system. Some other “Smart Alecs” may shun Okebukola’s counsel that Mmesoma’s case should be a warning to potential UTME cheats.
