Education
By Anthony Isibor
MORE than a week after the controversy over Ejikeme Mmesoma’s UTME result began on Saturday last week, the germane questions raised are still begging for answers.
Nigerians from all works of life have not stopped asking the same questions; ‘Who is responsible for the certificate fraud, was it just another glitch, how can a 16 year old girl from a very poor backround pull off such a fraud,? these are some of the questions that have remained elusive.
Those who have waded into the malady are some prominent Nigerians, including those in the National Assembly, Civil Societies, as well as the Anambra state government among others.
One of such prominent Nigerians who attempted to make sense of the whole drama was Osita Chidoka, owner of the Computer-Based Testing, CBT Center at Obosi where Ejikeme took her 2023 JAMB exam.
Chidoka had absolved both the centre and JAMB of any wrong doing.
According to him, the issue surrounding the result had nothing to do with the centre. “I observed two significant red flags when I saw her result online. First, our center is no longer addressed as Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development on the JAMB portal since 2021. The correct name on the JAMB portal and Main Examination Slip is Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development). Due to the difference in our CAC registration details, JAMB insisted we change to Nkemefuna Foundation with Thomas Chidoka in a bracket as an identifier. We implemented the name change in 2021. Her result showing Thomas Chidoka without the Nkemefuna Foundation, which was on her Main Examination slip, raised my suspicion about the genuineness of the result.
The second red flag was the result template. A cursory review of some of those who took the last examination at our center showed a different result slip template with the candidate’s passport picture, JAMB watermarks, and no mention of the name of the examination center. I gave the young Nmesoma the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if she would explain how she got the result, which is obviously not the result template that JAMB used in 2023. ” I knew it was fake,” he said.
In his defense for JAMB, Chidoka explained that the Board defended their integrity vigorously by sharing the USSD communication between Nmesoma’s phone and their servers with timestamps.
“Fabian Benjamin, the JAMB spokesperson, did a yeoman’s job in explaining how their system works and the security of their result portal. He even asked anyone who cares to crosscheck with AIRTEL, the network provider of Nmesoma.’s phone. Their transparency was compelling and disarming.
He noted that the JAMB Registrar, Professor Oloyede, issued statements based on facts and defended the integrity of a foremost Nigerian institution, whose failure would have had a catastrophic effect on Nigeria’s educational and CBT systems. “I was impressed. JAMB’s reaction and responsiveness should be made a minimum benchmark for government agencies. Our universities should write case studies of this saga so other institutions can learn how to navigate social media and information management in the face of unrelenting attacks, ” he said.
Chidoka further stated that for him, the real issue in the saga is the level of distrust of our national institutions. “The social media frenzy and denigration of JAMB, together with the ethnic slant of a simple issue with clear and verifiable methods of resolution, is symptomatic of the deep distrust of our national institutions. This distrust was deepened in the past 8 years with a horrifying descent of issues to our national fault lines. The Ethnicisation of the issue is sad and disappointing,” he added.
Contrary to Chidoka’s knowledgeable explanations, Emeka Ugwuonye, a Lawyer considers him an opportunist whose apparently impressive write-up on the subject is clearly an attempt to strengthen an already existing business relationship between him and JAMB. “That relationship was confirmed by his belief that his pleas to JAMB for mitigation would work,” he said
Although Ugwuonye argues that his post was only intended to register an observation and to encourage members to always think critically in both directions when dealing with any issue, he posited that despite the apparent goodwill in Chidoka’s statement, his position suffers some deficits.
According to him, it confirms that JAMB acted arbitrarily in its hasty position and imposition of punishment on Mmesoma. Hence, if its ego were massaged with sufficient begging, it will reverse itself. But if JAMB had followed due process, any decision taken would have been fair and solid and not so readily susceptible to arbitrary revisions.
“Chidoka admitted that Mmesoma could have been “led down that path”. This confirms the belief that she was probably not the only person involved and that her role, if any, might have been minimal. These uncertainties are the reason for JAMB to have waited and investigated better before final decisions.
“Since the 3-year ban imposed on Mmesoma was punitive in nature, the law requires that she be given a fair hearing before any punishment could be imposed. In this situation, a fair hearing would have involved an adequate opportunity for her to know what offences she is accused of and the opportunity for her to present a defense. It is basic law that without a fair hearing, any punishment imposed would violate the constitution. Chidoka did not point this out.
“Since Chidoka based much of what he said about JAMB on his personal knowledge and communications with JAMB officials, did he make any effort to speak with Mmesoma and her parents to know her position as well? Would that not have been necessary since Mmesoma is a person from his constituency? How would he want Mmesoma to come clean? How would he get to know what Mmesoma would do if he never gave her the opportunity of any communication or a meeting”
Despite all these views, the House of Representatives had waded into the matter and had asked the exam body to halt every action, a plea that seem to have been ignored.
From all the facts that have been made available through media reports, it is very obvious that a wrong have been done, maybe intentionally, maybe by accident, but one question that will keep begging for answers is ‘Who should be held responsible for Mmesoma’s ordeal?’
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Tags: Ejikeme Mmesoma JAMB
