As hours go by, one gets closer to the thought that someone is using Mmesoma to play an expensive prank on the entire Nigeria. 

“If na joke, stop it,” an average Nigerian will say. Now, the whole thing is gaining momentum to the point that the prank-mastermind could be on the run soon.  

Indeed, the recent banter between the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Ejikeme Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi in Anambra State is still brewing heavy reactions.

While Nigerians struggle with the choice of who to support on this critical issue, we decided to do a little digging of our own.

JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin had released a statement stating that the student, Mmesoma who was widely celebrated over the 362 score, said to be the highest for 2023 UTME, forged the result.

He added that the result would be withdrawn while Mmesoma would face prosecution.

Mmesoma’s Reaction

But speaking on Monday, the student insisted she printed her result from JAMB portal, adding that she was not capable of forging her result.

According to her, she had always been a brilliant pupil, who had secured first position from primary school days.

Mmesoma said she was invited to the police station where her statement was taken, and she was told that investigation was ongoing.

She said she felt traumatised by the incident, adding that, “there must be problem somewhere”.

However, as this controversy continues to grow, here are clear differences between an original JAMB result and the result presented by Mmesoma.

A comparison of the results presented by Mmesoma and a result sent by a candidate in the 2023 UTME exams shows some differences in the results.

(1) The result shared with our correspondent was printed in portrait format while the result Mmesoma claimed to have printed from JAMB portal appeared in landscape format.

(2) Mmesoma’s result did not have her image displayed on it, meanwhile, the printout from another candidate sent to our correspondent carried a photo of the candidate.

(3) Also the JAMB result received by our correspondent was printed in colour as opposed to Mmesoma’s black and white result sheet:

See photos of the two results below:

These few differences could help in understanding this controversial situation.

Meanwhile, JAMB has suspended the Mmesoma for 3 years while investigation is ongoing.

Nigerians are looking to see if this is a prank on the entire country or another fraud targeted at picking up a 3 million Naira scholarship from Innoson.