Mmesoma: Ethnic, Religious Sentiments Unwarranted – NOA DG

Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Garba Abari, has described as “unwarranted”, the social media buzz generated over the alleged falsification of results by Mmesoma Ejikeme, an Anambra pupil, who was accused by JAMB of manually inflating her 2023 UTME result.

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The DG, who lamented the ethnic and religious sentiments to the issue on the internet said the case was a simple matter that should have been handled quietly by the examination board.

Abba made this known on Thursday while addressing journalists at the closing ceremony of the National Fact Checking Course organised by the National Orientation Agency in collaboration with the Tomruk iHub Multiverse and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.

In a statement on Sunday evening, JAMB accused Ejikeme of manually inflating her UTME score from 249 to 362 and used her manually increased score to attract a N3 million scholarship from Innoson Motors and was set to be awarded by the Anambra State government before she was exposed.

Though the 19-year-old candidate of Enugu State origin, initially denied the allegation, she admitted on Wednesday, that she received an automated text message from JAMB indicating that her score was 249.

READ ALSO: Mmesoma: JAMB Discovers Owner Of App Used In Forging Result

Reacting, the DG noted that the case shed quite a bit of light on the country’s institutional integrity and how Nigerians perceive government agencies; however, he went on to blast some Nigerians, who are addressing the issue with ethnic sentiment.

He said: “Recently, the case of Mmesoma Ejikeme, has been in the media space over the purported fake Jamb result. This incident has become the most talked about in our country today but ordinarily, this should not be the case as it is a simple matter that should have been handled quietly by the examination board.

“This case has also revealed a lot about our institutional integrity and how Nigerians perceive our institutions. We have to change the public perception about our national institutions and make them believe in the integrity of our national institutions.

“Also, when matters like this come into play, we must as a country not begin to play to the gallery and whim up sentiment around issues that would becloud the essence of investigation.

“Unfortunately, when you see what is on social media, the decisive, abusive, and destructive messages that have characterised this simple issue is very disturbing and this must stop.”