A former Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has reacted to the confession of Anambra State student, Mmesoma Ejikeme, of forging her 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
Naija News earlier reported that the eight-member panel set up by Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State to investigate the controversies surrounding the results claimed by Mmesoma had indicted the student.
Headed by Professsor Nkemdili Nnonyelu, the committee confirmed Mmesoma forged the score of 362 as earlier claimed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
According to the report submitted to the governor, Mmesoma confirmed she single-handedly forged the result before approaching a cyber cafe for printing.
Reacting in a Twitter post on Saturday, Keyamo said he deliberately waited for the end of the investigation before commenting on the matter.
The former minister said Mmesoma should be condemned by Nigerians and she should be encouraged to tender an apology to JAMB, her parents and the nation.
He wrote: “I deliberately waited for the end of this investigation before commenting on this unfortunate case of our daughter, Mmesoma Ejikeme.
“She’s a brilliant girl, judging by her actual score of 249. The nation should be careful not to destroy her. What she needs is counselling, correction and guidance. She obviously did not know the weight and gravity of what she was doing. As teenagers, most of us made juvenile mistakes that never came to light.
”The parents should encourage her to do a public apology to JAMB, to her family and to Nigerians after which she should be allowed to get her admission based on her actual scores. Anyone still pushing other narratives over this issue is not helping her and her family.
“It is time to close this very unfortunate chapter and move on. This is my plea.