Vindicated? Nigerians Revisit Mmesoma Ejikeme’s Controversy as JAMB Glitch Resurfaces in 2025 UTME Results

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The name Mmesoma Ejikeme has returned to national discourse following fresh revelations of a technical glitch in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) UTME results for 2025—an error many believe vindicates the teenager who was banned in 2023 for allegedly forging her results.

Back in 2023, Mmesoma, a 19-year-old top-performing student from Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra State, became an internet sensation after announcing a UTME score of 362/400, which was widely believed to be the highest in the country. Her result went viral and earned her a ₦3 million scholarship from Innoson Motors after the company claimed to have verified her score directly from the JAMB website.

However, the joy was short-lived. JAMB responded by declaring Mmesoma’s result fraudulent, asserting that her actual score was 249. The exam body claimed she manipulated the result and involved the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate. Despite public outrage and emotional videos from Mmesoma denying any wrongdoing, JAMB banned her for three years.

What fueled public skepticism was the QR code on Mmesoma’s result slip, which initially led to another candidate’s profile with a different score. Mmesoma and others alleged that JAMB’s system had suffered from repeated glitches—a claim the board firmly denied at the time.

After intense public pressure, including calls from Charly Boy and businessman Gaius Chibueze for an independent probe, Mmesoma appeared before a House of Representatives panel where she confessed to altering her score. Her father later claimed she had been coerced, insisting that JAMB had manipulated the situation.

JAMB stood its ground, accusing Mmesoma and unnamed accomplices of a deliberate act of deception. Innoson Motors withdrew their scholarship, and the state’s recognition went to Nkechinyere Umeh, who had scored 360.

Fast forward to 2025, the controversy has been reignited as several students across the South-East, Lagos, and Oyo States reported discrepancies in their results—similar to what Mmesoma had claimed two years earlier. Alex Onyia, an education advocate, spearheaded a private investigation that revealed the issue stemmed from a human error that affected result synchronization across specific regions.

This revelation has sparked a wave of renewed support for Mmesoma on social media, with many Nigerians now calling on JAMB to issue a formal apology and review her case. They argue that the original accusations against her may have been rooted in technical failures within JAMB’s systems, rather than deliberate fraud.

JAMB has yet to respond to the latest developments. Meanwhile, the public continues to demand accountability, transparency, and restitution for Mmesoma, whose academic future was clouded by a scandal that now appears to have deeper roots.