Okey Maduforo 
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has intervened in the growing confusion over the actual winner of the highest score in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) calling for a detailed investigation into the two conflicting results.
The Governor, however, announced that following the report from the UTME, the state government has congratulated Miss Nkechinyere Umeh for scoring highest in the last examination.
Recall that Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme had earlier been announced and celebrated for having scored a total of 362 in the said examination only for Nkechinyere Umeh to emerge as the highest scorer at a total of 249.
This was based on the report by the authorities of the JAMB which contended that Umeh scored 249 and not 262 as was earlier reported.
The examination authorities stated that based on the inquiries of the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma- Udeh it, had to go into its records to discover that Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme was not the highest scorer.
According to the Commissioner, Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme came on a protest with one Very Rev Nduka of St Mary’s Anglican Girls Secondary School Uruagu Nnewi in Nnewi North local government area of Anambra state.
“Because of the protest I had to contact the examination body to make confirmations and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME replied that Mmesoma Ejikeme’s score is 249 and not 262 as she had claimed,” she said.
Consequent to this development the Anambra state government in a release signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education Nnaemeka Egwuonwu stated that;
“The Anambra State Ministry of Education says, the celebration of Nkechinyere Umeh by Anambra State Government, followed the declaration by JAMB that she scored the highest in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations UTME”
“The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh stated that
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”
“Commissioner Chuma-Udeh further said that a certificate alleged to be fake was presented by Mmesoma Ejikeme, who was earlier paraded as the best in various social media platforms, stating that security agents are investigating the matter”
Meanwhile, the governor has also called for a detailed investigation into how the initial score of 262 was awarded to Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme which the examination body is currently carrying out at the moment.
But in her protest with Very Rev Nduka of her post-primary school, Mmesoma Ejikeme contended that her result was published from the JAMB portal and couldn’t have manufactured the scores herself.
Strengthening her protest further her father Mr Romanus Ejikeme said that her daughter is being maligned for presenting fake JAMB results adding that his daughter was informed about her score of 262 by her friends which was confirmed through the examination portal.
Efforts to reach either the Very Rev Nduka or Mmesoma Ejikeme for further discussion have not yielded any result so far.
