The house of representatives on Wednesday, July 5, resolved to investigate the alleged forgery of the unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) result by Ejikeme Mmesoma.
The decision was taken following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker from Rivers.
Abiante while commenting on incident which has drawn controversy, said;
“The person in question does not have the opportunity to sit here with us to be heard. She may not also have the opportunity to convoke press conferences like JAMB is trying to do.
“It is the duty of parliament to protect those who cannot protect themselves, especially since the person in question is a minor”.
Sada Soli, a lawmaker from Katsina who contributed to the motion said the app the student printed her result from was previously utilised by JAMB some years back but the examination body stopped using it when “they realised that a similar version of it was cloned”.
Soli said;
“This girl was manipulated by some individuals in order to take advantage of her talents to cash-in on the privileges that come with the highest score. I believe the girl is innocent. I have no doubt she is innocent.”
Igariwey Enwo, a lawmaker from Ebonyi also said JAMB’s approach to the matter has “failed the test of institutional procedure”. He said;
“JAMB has alleged a very serious criminal offence of forgery. Forgery is a felony. And then JAMB at the same time is also investigating this allegation of forgery when there is supposed to be a presumption of innocence. Something is definitely wrong with that process.”
After the motion was unanimously voted for when put to a voice vote by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, the house constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter, including other affected results, and report back in three weeks.
They’ve also asked JAMB to rescind the three years ban imposed on the candidate, pending the outcome of the investigation.
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