I Manipulated My Score”-Chinedu Confesses To Jamb ...Lawyer And Father Flabbergasted

Chinedu Ifesinachi John, a 2021 candidate, who had planned to study Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has confessed that the fear he might not be offered the programme of his choice with the score he had, propelled him to alter his UTME result.

On further interrogation, he stated that he used the telephone number of his sister, Chinecheremi John Ifemkpa, and saved her number as '55019' a sort code u s e d b y J A M B f r official communications with candidates to create profiles, check UTME results, among others. He added that he simply used the number to send the edited result from his sister’s phone to his own for it to appear as if it was sent by JAMB to substantiate his allegation of multiple results. The journey of his confession was very interesting and dramatic. The first stage started with Chinedu alleging that in 2019, his JAMB score was tampered with as well as his 2020 UTME. Chinedu, a son of a contractor, had through his lawyer, Barrister Akaiwe Ikeazor, petitioned JAMB alleging that the Board had tampered with his 2021 UTME result while praying that he should be allowed to take the UTME again.
He claimed that the Board had issued him two results: the first reading 380, while the second one was alleged to have been 265.

The Board ignored his letter knowing that he was parading a manipulated result as the Board had already identified and flagged eleven candidates including Chinedu, who had manipulated their 2021 UTME results and forwarded same to the Vice-Chancellors of their chosen institutions. However, when his lawyer wrote a second letter and threatened to press for N1billion damages, the Board then felt that it was necessary for it to do the needful. In line with the Board's standard practice when such allegations are leveled against it, and being a responsive organization that does not toy with its integrity and transparency, the Board had invited the candidate to come forward with his lawyer and substantiate his claims.

Poised to make its investigation open and transparent to all stakeholders, the Board invited the Educational Correspondents Association of Nigeria, Public Complaints Commission, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Nigeria Human Rights Commission, SERVICOM, representatives of security agencies, among others, to witness the proceedings to ensure that fairness and equity are done to all parties.

The Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, after listening to Chinedu’s lawyer and father, who had both accompanied him to the Board's Headquarters, gave the duo five minutes to meet privately with Chinedu to ask him to confess his manipulation of the result and if he does not and the truth is placed before him it will be too late as he would be handed over to the police. The second stage of the drama unfolded after the recommended meeting with Chinedu where he had remained adamant.

JAMB then asked him to present his evidence as he claimed that a text message was sent to him. When he showed the message on his phone, the technical team discovered that the message was faked as one of the security features was absent, a signature sign, featured by other messages that emanated from the Board’s 55019.
His lawyer, Barrister Akaiwe Ikeazor, repeatedly interjected to affirm his client's sincerity even when he was
cautioned by the Registrar that he should not believe everything emanating from the candidate hook, line and sinker, to avoid avoidable embarrassment, he remained unmoved. He appeared not to be very convinced and had asked for thorough investigation.

The Board went further by calling for the history of its communications with Chinedu from the Telco number being used by the candidate. Subsequently, the details of all messages sent to him were displayed from the creation of profile for registration up to the request for the result and what was sent to him. It was at this stage that his lawyer got a rude awakening to the futility of the case.

Furthermore, it was in the course of the proceedings that it came to light that Chinedu must be one of those candidates thrown up by some unscrupulous tutorial centres and when confronted with this fact, he confessed that he, indeed, belongs to a tutorial group where he teaches Mathematics and was paying N5000 per week for tutorials in other subjects and in addition, was one of the group's WhatsApp administrators. He disclosed that the modus operandi of the group included promising candidates all kinds of scores. It was when he himself failed to score what he had expected that he resorted to his inglorious deed that landed him in trouble.
It was, therefore, owing to the refusal of the candidate to own up to his crime, that the Board, through its security instruments, had proceeded to establish that the message sent to Chinedu came from a phone number saved as '55019' which, as he later confessed, belonged to his sister who is also a UTME candidate. It should be noted that the 55019 sort code is used by JAMB for official communications with candidates to create profiles, check UTME results and receive SMS and other essential information.

A pensive and remorseful Chinedu then pleaded guilty to the crime after he was confronted with the facts of what he had done as he pleaded for clemency. Chinedu had, then turned towards his father, who had vowed that his son could not do anything untoward that, “I'm so sorry for putting you through this embarrassing situation. I was afraid I'll not get the programme I wanted and had to do this, I've learnt my lesson.”

Confounded by the confession of his client, the seasoned lawyer, promised to write a letter to JAMB withdrawing his petition.

In his words: “I am shocked and very embarrassed by this boy's attitude. I had asked him several times but he kept telling me lies. This circumstance has further enhanced my belief in the credibility of JAMB as an institution and Prof. Oloyede as an epitome of integrity. However, I plead for mercy for my client.” Chinedu, who had sat the 2019, 2020 and 2021 UTME, had said that he had disclosed that he had wanted to study Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ibadan in 2019 and 2020.

He said, "In 2021, I decided to leave Medicine and Surgery for them. So I picked Petroleum Engineering. To ensure that I succeeded this time around, I had used my sister's telephone number which I had saved as 55019, type the results that bore 380 and sent it to myself.”

After that earth-shaking admission of guilt, which Chinedu made in the presence of his father, lawyer and some members of management staff of the Board, Chinedu was handed over to the Police for further investigation to pave way for the arrest of his accomplices in the tutorial group where sundry acts of infractions are contemplated and executed.

The National Coordinator, SERVICOM, Mrs. Nnenna Akajemeli, who had followed the process keenly commended the Board for the diligent and transparent manner it has handled the issue. She disclosed that SERVICOM and other critical Agencies have always been invited to witness instances of candidates manipulating their scores by other organisations and had seen how they struggle to produce records. She declared her amazement at how JAMB displayed credible and reliable records and data of conversations and other engagements with candidates leaving them with no options but to confess the truth even in the presence of their parents.

Cautioning the lawyer against staking his integrity on such candidates next time, the Registrar said immediately he was informed of the allegations, he had known that the results the candidate was parading were doctored as it was part of the eleven already identified. He, however, said he had gone through all the processes to prove to the lawyer and others who are witnessing that kind of scenario for the first time that Chinedu’s allegations were not only frivolous and false but also misleading and lacking in substance.

Continuing, he said, “There was never any communication of 380 with this candidate in our records. As such, for conducting himself in a manner not worthy of a tertiary education candidate, Chinedu's result would be withdrawn
pending the conclusion o f the investigation.

The Registrar stated, “As far as I'm concerned, the Board will report you to the Police for further investigation to ensure your accomplices are also arrested. I fear that these are the kinds of people we are preparing for university education. If this candidate is not properly reoriented you can imagine what he'll do while in the university and after.”

Regrettably when the news was broken by the media, some persons who delighted in falsehood were making reference to the Board’s server being a probable culprit. It should be borne in mind that the act of manipulation committed by Chinedu had nothing to do with any database but the doctoring of an official communication he received from the Board to mislead his father and lawyer.

The Registrar appealed to parents and other members of the public to always interrogate their wards properly before subjecting themselves to such embarrassing situations. He urged the public to desist from hasty conclusions and decried a situation whereby once a government agency is mentioned in a negative context, Nigerians would hardly give that institution the benefit of the doubt. He said he shuddered to think of what could happen if the Board had no sufficient technical know-how to detect such manipulations!

Prof. Oloyede added, “We have eleven of them who had manipulated their results by supplanting their lower scores with higher figures which they had concocted. Two of them are already being prosecuted." “As for the remaining ones, we're going to withdraw their results and prosecute them as well. Our reasons for doing so are to protect the integrity of the Board, sanitise the system and ensure that the leaders we want to groom for the future are men and women of integrity.”