Ejikeme Mmesoma has apologised to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over the alleged forgery of her unified tertiary matriculation examination (UTME) result.
Mmesoma spoke on Wednesday when she appeared before an ad hoc committee of the house of representatives investigating the alleged forgery of result.
Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, and top directors of the board also appeared before the committee.
The candidate pleaded for leniency for the ban imposed on her to be lifted.
“I feel a debt of pain for letting you down,” she said.
“I had already admitted that what I did was wrong. Based on that, I hereby presented to you all, my letter of apology.
“I humbly seek your forgiveness for the mistakes I have made and the pain I have caused.
“I deeply and sincerely agree that I ignorantly got my JAMB result from another portal which was not a JAMB portal.
“I apologise for all the apportioned blame and all the pain I have caused.”
She said ignorant played a “significant role” in the process of obtaining the fake result.
While speaking, the JAMB registrar insisted that Mmesoma deliberately conspired with other actors to forge the result.
He added that JAMB has shut down over eight UTME centres that have been found wanting for infractions relating to result manipulation.
Before her appearance before the house ad hoc committee, an Anambra committee tasked with investigating the controversy had reported that the candidate admitted to faking her results.
In May, Mmesoma, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra state, gained popularity after she was purported to have scored 362 in the 2023 UTME.
Although JAMB did not announce her as the overall best candidate, Mmesoma was widely celebrated.
Innocent Chukwuma, the automobile businessman, awarded the candidate a scholarship worth N3 million.
JAMB would later declare, contrary to Mmesoma’s claims, that the student scored 249, not 362.
The exam body said she faked the results to mislead the public, so a panel was tasked with probing the matter.
The panel of inquiry said Mmesoma was expected to tender a written apology to JAMB, the Anglican Girls Secondary, and the Anambra state government.