The principal of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, in Anambra State where Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme, was alleged to have forged her JAMB score to emerge as the highest scorer, has said the school is surprised at the announcement.
The principal, Mrs Uchechukwu Edum, told DAILY POST on phone that the controversy over the score is not new to her, but that the school was still awaiting the outcome of a detailed investigation by the Department of State Services, DSS, when the news of the alleged forgery was broken on Sunday.
She stated that she and the student had been at the DSS office to make statements, and were awaiting the outcome of the investigation, only for JAMB to make an announcement discrediting their student.
Also read; JAMB’s withdrawal of Mmesoma’s result shocks Principal
Edum said: “What I can tell you is that we were in school when they (students) were checking their results.
“The first person had 295, another person had 265, and so on. We were still on it when Mmesoma came and brought her own result, and it was 362, and we requested that she should bring evidence and when she did, we rejoiced with her.
“So, later we heard that there was someone (from another school) who got 360, and that she was the highest, so we had to call the education secretary in the diocese.
“Our school is a mission school, so we decided there was a need to reach out to the commissioner on this. So the commissioner called JAMB, and they said there was no such thing, and that was confusion number one.
“Later, the DSS got involved in the matter, and I had to go there to make a statement, And I told them just the same thing I told you now, about the checking of the results.
“The girl (Mmesoma) also wrote a statement about how she checked her result, and the DSS said they will investigate the matter to know where the discrepancies lie, and that was all that I heard.
“So, while we were waiting for the investigation, we did not see anything, and yesterday, we saw the JAMB press release.
“I want to make an effort to go to the girl’s house now. You know today is Monday, and there is no movement, but we will go to her house later today to know if there are other things she can tell us.
“You also know that our SS 3 students are not in school now, they were given a break to go home and return by next week for NECO, but the way the matter is now, we may not wait until when they return.”
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Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh said she was the one who raised the alarm after the girl honoured an invitation in the process of the plan by the state government to honour her.
Chuma- Udeh said that after Mmesoma’s result was published online, she invited the girl for the purpose of a recognition by the state government, adding that when Mmesoma brought her result, she observed that it was not directly from the JAMB printout.
According to her, it was at that point that she became suspicious, which made her to get in touch with JAMB to confirm the result, stating that she was taken aback when JAMB told her that what was circulating was not its result.
She said it was at that point that her ministry turned back the girl, while JAMB began investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Chief Innocent Chukwuma has revealed that he would do all to protect Miss Ejikeme from undue intimidation.
Chukwuma, who had earlier awarded a N3million scholarship to Miss Ejikeme, said he would ensure that he saw the end of the matter.
He told journalists in a telephone conversation that he would be sending a letter to JAMB on Tuesday, to ensure a detailed investigation of the matter.
