A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka has broken his silence on the ongoing controversy surrounding a 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate, Mmesoma Ejikeme with respect to her result.
Chidoka, who is also the owner of the Computer-Based Testing (CBT) Centre where Mmesoma sat for her examination, urged her to “come clean with the source of her result”.
He spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.
Chidoka stated that he will beg the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for leniency if the candidate comes clean with her result source.
“For Nmesoma, she should come clean and explain how she got that result and who led her down that path. If she does that, I will lend my voice to beg JAMB to note her age and show more leniency,” the ex-minister said in a statement on Wednesday.
Chidoka said that he had observed two red flags when he saw the candidate’s result online.
“First, our centre 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)… Her (Nmesoma) 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,” the ex-minister stated, noting that his centre has been involved with the JAMB CBT examination since 2016.
He also commended JAMB for coming out “forcefully” to defend its integrity.