Anambra probes alleged mark manipulation by ‘JAMB top scorer’

The Anambra State Government has instituted a panel of inquiry into the controversy trailing the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

A student of Anglican Girls Secondary School Uruagu, Nnewi, Ejikeme Nmesoma, is being celebrated after as the highest scorer in the UTME with 362 aggregate.

But JAMB in a statement on Sunday said Mmesoma’s 362 score in the exam was fake, alleging that she manually inflated her result from 249 to 362 which she used to attract N3m scholarship.

The Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, in a statement on Monday, said the development was very embarrassing, coming at a time when the Soludo-led administration was determine to get education right in the state.

“Security agents are investigating the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Ejikeme Mmesoma, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest,” she said.

Meanwhile JAMB had declared Nkechinyere Umeh, as the candidate with the highest score, having scored a cumulative mark of 360.

The JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede had disclosed in Abuja at the 2023 Policy Meeting for Tertiary Institutions, that Nkechinyere Umeh scored 360 marks to emerge the best candidate.