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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Mmesoma Ejikeme, the candidate who forged her unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) result, has said she felt pain letting the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) down by her action.
Mmesoma, who appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating the incident on Wednesday, apologised and pleaded for leniency for the ban imposed on her to be lifted.
“I feel a debt of pain for letting you down,” she said.
JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, and other top directors of the board were said to have also appeared before the committee.
Before her appearance before the ad hoc committee, a committee set up by the Anambra State Government 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.
JAMB would later declare, contrary to Mmesoma’s claims, that the student scored 249, not 362.
The examination 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, Anglican Girls Secondary, and the Anambra State Government.