UTME; How I knew Mmesoma’s result was fake – Osita Chidoka

Thursday, July 6, 2023 10:34 am

Mmesoma Ejikeme, right, and Osita Chidoka

By Nehru Odeh

Former Minister of Aviation and Corps Marshal FRSC, Mr Osita Chidoka, whose foundation’s Computer Based Testing (CBT) centre at Obosi, Anambra State was where Mmesoma Ejikeme did her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UMTE, has revealed how he knew Mmesoma’s controversial result was fake.

In an opinion piece entitled, “Nmesoma and JAMB: Probing the integrity of our National Institutions”, published in Daily Post Nigeria on Wednesday 5 July, the former Minister gave two reasons he doubted Mmesoma’s result. He called those reasons red flags he had observed.

The first red flag Chidoka said he noticed was the name of the CBT centre where Mmesoma wrote her UTME. According to him the name of the centre on the controversial result, Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development had been changed to Nkemefuna Foundation (Thomas Chidoka Center for Human Development), which is what is on the authentic UMTE result.

The second red flag according to Chidoka was the result template which is quite different from the current one being used by JAMB. The current template has the candidates passport, unlike the 2021 template which Mmesoma used and doesn’t have her passport.

“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.

“Our Center has been involved with the JAMB CBT examination since 2016, and I have come to trust the integrity of the JAMB online examination platform. As Corps Marshal in 2011, I used JAMB to conduct the FRSC recruitment exercise that is still adjudged a high-water mark in public sector recruitment. Those recruited through that process wear their uniform with pride and continue to deliver value to the organisation to this day” Chidoka maintained.

Chidoka also expressed his disappointment at the manner the issue has been etnicised, adding that it also shows the level of deep distrust of our national institutions.

“For me, the real issue in this 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 said.

He however called on Mmesoma to come clean to come clean and explain how she got the result and what led her down the path.

“If she does that, I will lend my voice to beg JAMB to note her age and show more leniency,” Chidoka averred.