Chuma-Udeh vs Mmesoma Ejikeme: How not to be a Commissioner of Education
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Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, the Anambra State Commissioner for Education recently made headlines and, once again, for the wrong reason.
However, before we plunge into the headline and how it evolved, let’s catch a throwback into an event that happened in June 2022 in the LIGHT OF THE NATION State.
Professor Chuma-Udeh, who was then recently appointed the Anambra State Commissioner for Education by Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, was caught on tape using vulgarity to insult applicants who were at one of the failed centres for the teachers’ recruitment exam.
Professor Chuma-Udeh was heard calling the applicant “idiot” and “stupid” but unknown to her was being recorded.
She said: “Madam, you are an idiot…”
She later said: “You stupid woman…”
And also: “You have the effrontery to call me on the phone to talk rubbish. Will you get out of my phone, you failed FA.”
And yet later: “You are not supposed to be found in the corridors of education. You are all hooligans!”
Listen to the audio/ video below:
Listen to the audio/video, one can hardly imagine that such gutter language will be emanating from the “bukal cavity” of an erudite scholar who rose to the height of a Professor, how much more a State Commissioner!
An observer then noted that she may have been carried away by the euphoria of her then new appointment so we let it pass amidst calls for her resignation and/or adequate sanctions.
Fastforward to one later…
On May 6, 2023, news broke out that an academic wizkid from Anglican Girls Secondary School (AGSS), Nnewi, Anambra State, Miss Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme had emerged the overall best student in the 2023 Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination with an aggregate score of 362.
Reacting to the outstanding result, the Anambra State Education Commissioner, Chuma-Udeh, commended the brilliant performance by Ms Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma describing it as “excellent and very outstanding”.
She added that the performance coming from the State once again demonstrated the investment and premium the administration of Governor Soludo accords education sector in the State.
One can then imagine the shock of young Miss Ejikeme, and the consternation of Nigerians at large when, on Sunday, July 2, JAMB said it would withdraw Mmesoma’s result because she manually inflated her result and announced herself as the top scorer for the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
According to a statement issued by the Board, Ejikeme used her manually inflated score to attract a N3 million scholarship from Chief Innocent Chukwuma, the CEO of Innoson Motors, and was set to be honoured by the State government.
Before the pain would simmer down, JAMB said it has withdrawn the UTME result of Ejikeme Mmesoma over alleged manipulation of her scores.
JAMB, in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, on Sunday, said some of the 2023 UTME candidates are parading fake scores in order to get undue advantage.
What, however, drew ire and tears to some observers was when Mmesoma told her own side of the story, saying that the education board defamed and traumatised her.
In a video, the 16-year-old student said that that the result represents her original work as she has been on top of her classes since her kindergarten years.
She also denied any involvement or culpability in any criminal act which, according to her, she is incapable of.
She regretted that JAMB, instead of waiting for the outcome of the investigation initiated by the Department of State Services at the behest of the Anambra State Commissioner of Education, rushed to the media to declare that she forged her result.
Watch the video clip below:
Anambra wizkid, Ejikeme Mmesoma reacts to @JAMBHQ accusation that she forged her result. Says she's been on top of her class since kindergarten. pic.twitter.com/y5HzWQz69D
— Tim Elombah (@TimElombah) July 3, 2023
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What caught the angst of this writer was when she said that she was invited to the office of the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh.
Without discretion, Professor Chuma-Udeh, according to Ejikeme, placed a call to JAMB office and demanded for an immediate answer. And immediate answer she did get!
Having gotten an answer, and without further proper investigation, Madam Chuma-Udeh, the idiot-caller and the stupid-tagger, out of utmost indiscretion, picked her phone and called operatives of the secret police, the almighty Department of State Security (DSS) to come over and arrest the student, Miss Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme.
Let it sink…
DSS should come over and arrest Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme, a supposed student!
A Commissioner for Education?
In the LIGHT OF THE NATION State? Haba!
Where is her motherliness?
Where is her humanity?
Where is her finesse?
Where is her tenderness?
Where is her acute moral sense?
Where is the benefit of the doubt?
She should have, at the least, borrowed a leaf from former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, who called for an independent investigation into the controversy.
Dr. Ezekwesili had, reacting to the development, demanded an independent tech investigation to unearth all facts behind the fuss.
She said: “This saga between Mmesoma Ejikeme and JAMB requires an Independent Tech investigation to unearth all facts.
“Listening to her [Mmesoma] in this video, it is reasonable to request a forensic investigation to help reveal what really happened.”
She added: “An Independent investigation would turn this curious episode into a Learning Opportunity for JAMB and everyone, especially students.”
Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, this, as far as I am concerned, is not how to be a Commissioner of Education when minors are involved!
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