Now Mmesoma Ejikeme, the 19-year-old secondary school student of Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra State, has confessed to forging her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, result, some of her enablers have stepped back in a gesture of damage control and are prescribing harsh punishment for her where they are not extending the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, praises, it is obvious, they would rather not give. But for the short period the controversy lasted, just about a week, these individuals and groups were ready to make it yet another basis of their grievance against the Nigerian state for the marginalization of the Igbo by their perceived and real enemies.
The problem with the reaction from the South-East (and this matters a lot, perhaps, more than what Nigerians from other parts had to say on the issue as it concerns a woman of Igbo origin) is the gross politicisation and ethnicisaton of the issues. The reality of being seen as working against the interest of the South-East and tagged either a bastard or an efulefu sellout may be scaring otherwise confident Igbo people without the self-piteous mentality of a victim from speaking, leaving the space open for our latter-day Igbo nationalists who read the worst form of political and ethnic motives into anything that affects the Igbo.
This may be a hard conversation to have but the earlier we got it going the better for everybody involved. We can’t just continue to sweep these issues under the carpet or paper them over in order not to ruffle feathers. People need to be called out and called to order before they bring the roof down on everybody’s head. We may be back from the brink of another needless ethnic battle but the hard feelings it leaves behind calcify. They are hard to heal and often become the reason for further suspicion and hate mongering. The last general election frayed our national nerves. It was a close call that could very easily have taken a turn whose outcome nobody could have predicted but which we would all have certainly regretted. This, given the level of ethnic bile and animosity it generated.
It has left in its wake a high level of inter-ethnic and inter-religious angst among Nigerians who are still struggling to come to terms with one another and be at the same level of peace, accommodation and togetherness they shared before the election. Many are still anxiously hanging their hopes on the courts, waiting to know what they would say, and there is no guarantee that the outcome of the suits, especially as they concern the presidential election, would provide the needed closure for them to move on with their lives. Many of the partisans involved have made up their mind one way or another irrespective of what the court says. Yet some people are bent on muddying the waters further with Mmesoma- to what end really?
READ ALSO: Mmesoma: The “Yabbing” Of The Igbo
A perfect storm in a tea cup that could have been resolved right at the level of parental intervention with a spank on the wrist of the erring student, the Mmesoma affair was blown out of proportion, hijacked from the hands of the Ejikeme family and transformed into a national controversy that could have required another accord on the scale of the one signed in Aburi, with all the calls for international/”Independent Tech Investigation”. The seven-man committee set up by the Anambra State government was obviously constituted in protest against JAMB even though its findings would eventually expose Mmesoma’s claim for what it is: a mere fraud that was beyond any reasonable doubt the moment she made her video recording displaying her supposed notification of result that contradicted what every other candidate in that examination had.
Her aggregate score, age, name of exam centre and outlook of result slip were all forgeries. This was the moment any clear-eyed person ought to have stepped back. But no, she was goaded on by ethnic warriors and politicians. These were the elements that misled and failed this young woman, falling over themselves with promises of scholarships to study abroad and vacuous praises of her genius. It didn’t matter that the certified best student in the exam is Igbo and from Anambra State. What if that individual had been Hausa, Fulani or Yoruba?
Mmesoma registered for the exam in a personal capacity and her parents (at least her father) probably know too little about her academic activities to say nothing of they understanding the intricacies of her UTME fraudulent scheme. She’s neither a nominee of the South-East nor a representative of the Igbo. Nothing of this proves she was not well raised or that she is bad or evil. Here is a moral slip that could happen to any young person, a warning for her parents to take more interest in her activities and possibly the company she keeps. The question then is why should the South-East react to her case in the manner it did? Yes, I know somebody would ask in the manner we are wont to hear these days if there was any poll conducted that showed an Igbo consensus on her case. The reactions from most South-Easterners say it all.
In this age of information technology where almost everybody with any means of communication has access to the internet, it is easy to gauge the predominant mood or reaction to issues among particular demographics or people. In the case of Nigeria, you need not look beyond the position taken by or the utterances of the “thought leaders”, intellectuals (public and otherwise), politicians and celebrities, etc, from the areas concerned, and see how these align with the views of people of their ethnic stock whose digital or media presence could be seen and measured however unscientifically. We need no precise statistics to know this.
Thus the likes of Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education; the musician, Charly Boy and others still smarting from the loss of their preferred candidate in the 2023 presidential election, stepped in and called for “independent” investigations, another way of expressing their support for Mmesoma in the face of fraud. Charly Boy demanded that the answer sheet (?) of the candidate, in a computer-based test, be regraded. Disgust had apparently tampered with these individuals’ sense of appraisal.
Anything and everything that could prove the charge of Igbophobia and marginalisation and with which the controversy about the presidential election could be sustained was acceptable. Let’s be clear about this: Nigeria’s unity is negotiable and the Igbo have as much right as any group to demand a front seat at the table but those who speak in their name must learn not to do so by false or unfair claims of victimization.
Rotimi Fasan
