Ile Ife and Oyo Ile were at the very core of the cultural and political essence of the Yoruba. While the whole of the Yoruba have managed to preserve Ile-Ife as home for all, Oyo Ile, some 200 plus years ago, was lost to the pillage of the Fulani and to its own internal political sins and crimes. Ile-Ife and (New) Oyo have remained polar powers; sometimes they compete bitterly with their leaders playing captains for opposing forces. In good times, they ‘giraffe’ and do copy-and-paste. I was present when the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, crowned his senior chiefs and Baales in February 2009. I was the spokesman of the Olagunsoye Oyinlola government in Osun State which approved the crowning of those chiefs and Baale from one end of the ancient kingdom to the other. The Ooni today, in his majesty and glory, wears his crown; his top chiefs wear their own crowns with the understanding that Cat will remain Cat and Tiger will remain Tiger. It was an unusual arrangement but the decision was a compromise for peace; a key component of the package that resolved the 100-year-old Ife-Modakeke problem. Ife senior chiefs got beaded crowns; Ogunsua of Modakeke got his too – all on the same day and directly from the hands of the Ooni of Ife. Since then, there has been peace now and forever more.

Ibadan as the successor-city to the power and glory of Old Oyo is never tired of being in the news. Eleven High Chiefs became oba in Ibadan last Friday. A similar event was held in the same place for the same purpose in August 2017 – six years ago. The 2017 mass coronation unraveled soon after it was done. That it failed with the last government and is successful with the incumbent is a testament to two factors: approach and lessons taught by history. In Ile-Ife in 2009, it was the Ooni who granted and gave the crowns to the chiefs – with the approval of the governor. In Ibadan in 2017, the governor did the crowning directly; the reigning Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, kicked and told Governor Abiola Ajimobi that it would be “an exercise in futility” for the governor to crown Ibadan chiefs and Baales without the consent of the Olubadan. And it was. In 2023, the reigning Olubadan, Oba Lekan Balogun, learnt from history and wrote to Governor Seyi Makinde, seeking approval to crown his chiefs. The Olubadan got the approval and did the crowning of his chiefs himself on Friday, 7 July, 2023. Unlike what we saw in 2017, the sea of Ibadan has been remarkably calm.

The peace of the twig is the peace of the bird. When chiefs fight the king, the town feels the tremor. The late Olubadan Adetunji saw the coronation of his chiefs by Ajimobi in 2017 without his consent as a rebellion, a direct assault on his paramountcy in Ibadan. With the backing of the state government, the High Chiefs actually rebelled; they stopped attending meetings and functions. The ‘rebellion’ endured till there was a change of government in May 2019. Such a ‘rebellion’ wasn’t a new thing in Ibadan. In 1936, Ibadan chiefs waged a ceaseless war against Olubadan Okunola Abasi Aleshinloye. They stopped attending meetings where their lord presided. The colonial government responded by not giving them their monthly allowance because “they did not work.” But that did not deter them from carrying on with their ‘war’. On one occasion, the chiefs appeared before the Resident without Olubadan and the white man asked them: “Have you ever seen a man who cuts off his head and still walks on the road without his head? They answered: ‘We’ve never seen such’. He then said to them: ‘Do not ever return to me without the Olubadan (i.e. your head) coming with you.'” (See Isaac Ogunbiyi and Stefan Reichmuth’s ‘Arabic Papers from the Olubadan Chancery I: A Rebellion of the Ibadan Chieftains’; 1997 on page 118).

A number of friends outside Ibadan have asked me what having more kings meant for Ibadan as a city and for its uncountable struggling millions. My response has been a riposte interrogating the importance of change in life and of reforms in human institutions. If the latest innovation in the city’s traditional setup results in better management of its culture and more, its inhabitants may be inoculated from the city’s disease of civil disorder. That would mean peace which William Shakespeare likens to “a conquest” in which “both parties nobly are subdued, and neither party loser.”

The ascendancy of Ibadan from war camp to city and the distinctiveness of its Olubadan kingship are products of constant change and reforms. All through its modern history, every major improvement or amendment or adjustment to the Ibadan chieftaincy law has had streaks of controversies. In 1936, Ibadan as a city was tired of dragging the Baale title with minions in charge of its villages. It wanted its traditional head to be called and known as Olubadan instead of the lowly Baale title. The colonial government approved it on 18 June, 1936 but put it on hold on 7 July for the fear that an Olubadan could claim to be oba and challenge the authority of the Alaafin. On 9 July, fifty-seven Ibadan chiefs signed a petition asking the authorities to “bring about the desired change” they all longed for. They explained that changing the title of their ruler from Baale to Olubadan was “a mere nomenclature” conferring no right upon “the holder to wear a beaded crown and it is hoped that no holder of it in future shall have such aspirations.” The chiefs boasted that “if we had cared for the beaded crown, we would have assumed one before the advent of the British Government. We have been democratic since the establishment of the third Ibadan, and we like our constitution to continue so” (See Ruth Watson’s Civil Disorder is the Disease of Ibadan: Chieftaincy and Civic Culture in a Yoruba City, 2003, from page 142 to 145). The final approval for the title-change came on 21 October, 1936 with the colonial government emphasizing that the title was cosmetic, that it could only massage the ego of the bearer, it contained no potency that could make the bearer a king with a beaded crown to match.

But those who boasted in 1936 that they needed no king with a beaded crown attempted a change in tune just three years after. A Conference of Yoruba Chiefs was to be held in Ibadan in May 1939 but certain Ibadan merchants caused to be made abroad and imported into the country 3,000 yards of a purpose-made ‘Olubadan Damask’ – today’s Aso Ebi. It was to be worn in the city during the conference. Watson (2003: 154) describes the cloth as “so dense in cultural meaning and political symbolism” that the authorities believed it was a threat to public peace. Emblazoned on the Aso Ebi for distribution in the city was a drawing of Olubadan Abasi leading a leopard by a cord amidst a design with “a coloured ground bearing at the top, a crown, and in the border the words: Olubadan d’oba, abuse buse (Olubadan has become king, end of discussions).” The Leopard on a leash in Olubadan’s hand was interpreted to be the Alaafin. The Lion in Oyo saw the cloth and roared from Oyo; the colonial government heard the loud protest in Lagos and banned the distribution and use of that cloth everywhere – and forever. That incident and similar others were what the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III referred to as “the skirmishes of the 1930s” in his historic motion of 1976 at the Oyo State House of Chiefs while pleading that the council grant the Olubadan the right and privilege to wear a beaded crown.

Ibadan’s ways will continue to excite the human sense. The city won’t be tired of stirring crises and controversies that are soon resolved in its own peculiar way. And that is because it is a composite city of varieties in human values and opinions. I will insert Ayinde Barrister’s ‘Garbage’ guidedly here. Ibadan accommodates all and impacts all – the hardworking and the indolent. It is a ferment; a melting pot for all and for every culture that is connected with its history. Eminent historian, Professor I. A. Akinjogbin, put it very succinctly at the centenary conference of the Yoruba Peace Treaty of 1886 held at the then University of Ife in September 1986. He described Ibadan as a successful example of the mixing and mingling of all Yoruba groups. When you have such a phenomenal pool of people, you get a multiplicity of values and character traits. Akinjogbin said: “Virtually every town and village in Yorubaland lost at least a son to Ibadan. In other words, the Ibadan today are a thorough mixing and mingling of all Yoruba groups. Indeed, the Nupe, the Hausa, the Bariba were also successfully integrated into Ibadan. And by the end of the 19th century, even the Fulani were seeking to be accepted as full-fledged Ibadan when they sang “e ma pewa I’ajoji moo, a jo ni le yi ni” (see I.A. Akinjogbin in ‘War and Peace in Yorubaland 1793-1893’, page 5).

Have we heard the last of the emergence of multiple kings in Ibadan? If history is a guide, it won’t support such optimism. But it does appear that a revisit of the reforms will likely look forward rather than backward. You would expect constant demand for reforms and restructuring here. Lagos may be the business capital of Nigeria but Ibadan is the country’s knowledge and books capital. It hosts Nigeria’s first university and in its bosom is the first of every other thing about learning and wisdom. Maybe that is why I will also describe it as Nigeria’s agitation and protests capital. ‘Ija Igboro l’arun Ibadan’ is the sub-title (and meaning) of Ruth Watson’s ‘Civil Disturbance is the Disease of Ibadan’. The general history of Ibadan from 1830 to 2023 has been a celebration of chivalry and conspiracies; protests and protestations. Oba I.B Akinyele’s 304-page ‘Iwe Itan Ibadan’ is filled with such intrigues and rebellions. He used the words ‘tembelekun’ and ‘ote’ repeatedly to end-note the reign of almost every Baale of the town in the era his account covers.

English poet and politician, John Milton (1608-1674), wrote on kings and their powers. He describes the scepters they wield as very much in the character of the staff in the hands of shepherds. The poet says kings love their people so that they could manipulate and fleece them. He says a king’s interest in a system is limited to how it makes it “easiest [for the people] to be kept under; and not only in fleece, but in minde also sheepishest.” I know that many wonder if it is not a contradiction – and they ask why we need kings in a democracy. It is a legitimate question that cannot be asked (and answered) in isolation of where we are coming from as a people. British colonialism retained and energized traditional rulers for its use and advantage. Post-colonial Nigeria maintains them not as “museum materials” but as links to the past and (possible) instruments of stability and development. As I write this, I could see with my mind’s eyes monarchs who are rewriting those negative lines of Milton on the use(fulness) of monarchy. Amidst failure of politics and politicians, kings now influence and attract development to their kingdoms. There are kings who are building schools for children of the poor, clothing and feeding them. There is one in Oke Ila, Osun State. The more progressive obas we have, the more likely the land gets better. So, beyond the ecstasy on the hills of Mapo, we wait to see the multiplicity of crowns in Ibadan translating to multiplicity of goodies and goodness in the traditional administration of the city. Otherwise, the 12 crowns will be less of value than the beads strewn on them.

Ibadan now has a senior king and many junior kings. I wish them very long reigns. But if I say that prayer in an assemblage of Ibadan’s kingly heads, only the one at the head of the pyramid will say amen with all his heart. Why? Ibadan is probably the only Yoruba city where the news of death is good news. Agbotikuyo (hear-news-of-death-and-rejoice) is the word they proudly use to explain away the uniqueness of their monarchy. There are eleven junior kings now in Ibadan. It has evolved from a city of knights with a reluctant crown to a city of major and minor royals in competition for eras. What does it mean for a kingdom to have a king sharing his royalty with junior kings? There was a co-regency in England when King Henry II crowned his eldest surviving son as junior king. The young co-king not only exercised zero royal authority, he pre-deceased his father. Co-regency was practised during Egypt’s 12th dynasty and across history in other lands. If co-kingship works for Ibadan, co-presidency may for Nigeria to address charges of marginalization. But sometimes the result is the opposite of the intended goal. There was a co-regency in the Garden of Eden between the first man and the first lady. Should I pray, therefore, that Ibadan’s co-regency will not be like the one between Adam and Eve which ended with Satan’s coup de grâce?

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Kolapo Sulu-Gambari, as a former Justice of the Court of Appeal, ought to know that Nigeria is a secular country. As a graduate of the Nigeria Law School, he should know that Section 10 of our country’s Constitution states in simple English that: The government of the federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as state religion.”

As a leader in the country, he ought to know that every Nigerian has a constitutional right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. As a lawyer trained in England he ought to know all these because they constitute part of the United Nations Fundamental Human Rights Convention.

 As leader of a faith, the Emir should know that there is no compulsion in Islam. As a traditional ruler, he is expected to promote peaceful co-existence, and as an elder statesman who should be a societal role model, he ought neither to resort to self-help nor engage in impunity.

 Unfortunately, this is the path he chose by banning Isese, a religious festival scheduled to hold between July 22 and July 24, 2023 simply because he does not share the beliefs of that religion.

Rather than be angry, I actually feel sorry for him because his actions and reasons he advances do not do justice to his training, knowledge, expertise and legacy.

First, assuming, without conceding that the African Traditional Religion, is a crime, he ought to report it to the police, not to send a rabble to invade the home of a lady, Yeye Ajesikemi Olokun Omolara Olatunji and threaten her life if she worshipped God in her religious belief.

The Emir exhibited little knowledge of Ilorin and the origins of the emirate when he claimed that such indigenous festivals had never “been associated or held in Ilorin, or within Ilorin Emirate”. Contrary to such claims, Ilorin, its indigenous religions and festivals, had existed by 1450, that is some 400 years before the Uthman Dan Fodio family with whom Alhaji Gambari claims lineage, migrated from the Toronkawa clan in Senegal.

Therefore, Alhaji Gambari’s claim that: “Our culture is Islamic-based, so we don’t promote idolatry at all”, has no foundation in fact and history. In any case, we know Ilorin, indeed Kwara State, is home to millions of Christians and other religious adherents.

So his utterances and claims are an invitation to anarchism. I do not think his claims that the Kwara State Governor and security agencies in the state back his illegal and unconstitutional actions, deserve any response.

Also, his claims to have given directives to security agencies to stop the traditional worship, deserves no response because not even a police constable would take unlawful directives from him.

The retired justice also claims that for such traditional festival to take place, the worshippers must get clearance from the police for them to have a lawful or, legal assembly. This, with all due respect, is incorrect. Sections 38 and 40 of the Constitution grants Nigerians the right to freely associate and assemble. Also, Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right Act, grants Nigerians those basic rights.

Thirdly, Honourable Justice Anwuri Chiyere had in the All Nigeria Peoples Party v Inspector General of Police (2006) ruled that police permit for Nigerians to hold rallies is illegal and unconstitutional.

Fourthly, when the Police appealed this judgement, the Court of Appeal in December, 2007 dismissed it on the basis that that police permit is “a relic of colonialism” which is incongruous in a democracy.

Based on the Appeal Court decision, the National Assembly in 2015 amended the Electoral Act 2010. Section 94 (4) of the amended Act states that the role of the police at rallies, processions and meetings… “shall be limited to the provision of adequate security…”

Also, Section 83 (4) of the Police Establishment Act 2020 provides that: “Where a person or organization notifies the police of his or its intention to hold a public meeting, rally or procession … the police officer responsible for the area where the meeting rally or procession will take place shall mobilize personnel to provide security cover for the meeting, rally or the procession.”

In any case, what police permit do worshippers of other religions obtain before they observe their festivals?

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, who is Alhaji Gambari’s senior by six years, gave a brotherly advice to the Emir not to turn Ilorin into another scene of bloody religious and ethnic conflicts as was done in Kaduna. He had advised the Emir to learn from the United Arab Emirates which despite being an Islamic country, promotes other religions like Christianity.

But Alhaji Gambari responded that Soyinka is being “economical with facts”. The Emir claimed that his provocative acts and suppression of other religious beliefs and cultures “is to prevent crisis and not wait until it erupts…”. So how do you respond to a delusional argument?

Alhaji Gambari had attended Offa Grammar School, Offa and passed out in 1960. Moremi Ajasoro was an Offa, Kwara State lady of the 12th Century who was married to Oranmiyan, the king of Ile Ife. At that time, the Ifes had an existential challenge: some spirit-like characters used to invade the city and cart away humans and property. Moremi decided to act. She had a simple plan: to be captured by the invaders and possibly infiltrate their ranks, find out who they are and how they can be defeated. She made a vow that if she succeeded, she would sacrifice her only son, Oluorogbo, to the Spirit of the Esimirin river.

She was captured, the king of the invaders found her irresistible and married her. As the favourite wife, the King revealed that his soldiers were humans who merely wore raffia leaves from head to toe to frighten their opponents. She discovered that all that was necessary to defeat the invaders was for the Ife people to light torches and throw them at the invaders.

Moremi escaped and revealed the secret to the Ifes who roundly defeated the invaders. After the victory songs and praises, reality dawned on Moremi: she had to sacrifice her son. She became a legend in Yorubaland. One of the most famous festivals in Yorubaland, the Edi Festival, is in her honour and it attracts tourists.

A monument was also built in her honour in her home town, Offa, which should be the biggest tourist attraction. But religious fanatics turned it into a war continually attacking it. For them, it is a pagan shrine which should not exist, or be close to the mosque. Now, the shrine has been turned into the Moremi Hall of Fame. Ignorance, lack of knowledge, fanaticism, religious intolerance reigns.

In the uncivilized hours of Saturday, I was wide awake. Sleep eluded me. This lasted for about two hours – between 1.O0am and 3.15am.

Like a number of people, I have formed the very bad habit of looking at my Whatsaap messages each time I visit the rest room at night. Once I see any good story, it is goodbye to sleep until whenever because I would start a visit to all the sites for every “A, B, and C” of the story. How did we survive witout these phones and apps? I don’t want to curse whoever brought the idea of mobile phones and social media but see what it has done to us without prejudice to the, I admit, their many good sides. But, no thanks to them, our lives have been turned inside out and upside down. No secrets. No hiding place. No rest, especially for the eyes, fingers, brain. As Zebrudaya of the comedy, Masquerade would say: “God forbid bad thing.” They have taught and shown us nonsense, and more nonsense.

Now, it is because of them that a bad behavior by a wayward teenager has caused an uproar, disrupted our lives and opened the door for the barrage of insults being hauled at an industrious, intelligent and gifted tribe.

For Journalists, a bad story is a good story. When such stories break, my heart just pumps. My eyes glitter. Excitement sets in. But I experienced none of the three as I read, Saturday morning, the sad story of Miss Mmesoma Ejikeme – the young adult (19 years, not 16) who has occupied the media space in the past one week.

What I experienced was sadness and a large dose of anger. My anger was targeted at those who reduced a disturbing incident to the bashing of an ethnic group. I also experienced weakness. And hopelessness. And numbness of my fingers. And just before I dozed off to a fitful sleep, I muttered to myself: The loss of innocence, triggered by delinquent adults.

You know Mmesoma’s story. So, there is no point repeating it here, only just to, for the purpose of this write-up, briefly introduce the young girl who, brazenly, in a moment of criminal mischief, inflated her scores in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, from 249 to 362.

She is the girl who effortlessly forged her JAMB results and took the Nigerian Nation for a ride. She is the girl who looked her school Principal in the eyes and lied through her teeth. She is the girl who, publicly, dragged her school, a faith-based school, Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi, in the mud. She is the girl who lied to, her parents, and deceived, almost, the leadership of her State Government. She is the girl, who knowing quite well the crime she committed, took on both her State Government and a federal institution, JAMB, and almost stripped the Board of its credibility. She is the girl who deceived well-meaning Nigerians, had them line up behind her, especially, after she appeared on Channels Television, looking disarmingly innocent, and told us how traumatized she was over the JAMB allegation. “I am traumatized. JAMB is accusing me of forging my own result”, she said with confidence, innocence written all over her face.

Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma

There was Dr Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister for Education, who, after watching that interview, reached out to JAMB Registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, and called for an investigation by technological experts. There was Mr Charles Oputa, popular as Charlie Boy, who weighed-in for her. There was a firm, (aside from Innoson Automobile Manufacturing Company which had offered her three million Naira in scholarship) which offered her free education in the USA, Canada or United Kingdom. There was, yet, another, which offered her same scholarship. There was the Commissioner for Education, Anambra State, who felt so compelled by her story that she called JAMB to query Mmesoma’s non- recognition as the highest “JAMB scorer.”

There was a lawyer who threatened to sue JAMB over her. And, I read a story to the effect that Mmesoma “has sued JAMB for N20b!

All these people lined up behind her.

There is my younger sister, a retired Military Officer, who because of her training, hardly gives in to emotions. But not in Mmesoma’s case. After watching her interview on Channels Television, with a deceptive low voice, she called to tell me: “Sister, this girl is innocent. She does not look like somebody who can get involved in forgery. She does not even understand what the case is all about. They are dragging her because they think she is a nobody.” When I asked her, Saturday morning, if she had seen Mmesoma’s confession to her guilt, she sighed and replied: “Mmesoma fall my hand.”

She is not the only one whose hands Mmesoma forced “to fall.”

There are Mmesoma’s army of supporters in the social media who started reading meaning, the Nigerian way, into why JAMB disputed her result. “It is because she is Igbo”, some said, cleanly forgetting that the rightful highest scorer, declared by JAMB, Miss Kamsiyochukwu Umeh, is also Igbo, from same State.

There was yours sincerely, who was so taken-in by Mmesoma’s innocent looks that I literally blocked, within me, any negative story on her. But that was until I read Osita Chidoka, former Aviation Minister, who dismissed Mmesoma’s scores and story as fake, and asked her to “come clean”. It woke me up to reality.

And there were the stupid, narrow-minded, individuals who, based on Mmesoma’s criminal behavior, dismissed her tribe, the Igbo, as a tribe of same character. “It runs in their blood”, they wrote and professed on social media. For this group of people, I had a good laugh. They left the big bag of forgeries they are carrying, and are accusing those who took a little from their bag of collective guilt! I will get back to this later.

The questions are: Why did Mmesoma do it? What gave her the courage to do it? We can no longer ask who helped her, or connived with her, because she has confessed to doing it alone with her Airtel phone number. What pushed her? Why did she, without a second thought, ruin her future? The 249 she genuinely scored was good enough to get her an admission into any university of her choice. JAMB’s cut-off mark is 140. So, why? I can only think of three reasons.

Firstly, I think Mmesoma’s physical appearance is deceptive. She is not an innocent girl by any stretch of imagination. She is “waywardly” hardened. She is street-wise. Only that could make her, knowing fully what she did, to contact the Ministry of Education, Anambra, and report JAMB for not announcing her as the highest scorer. A less crooked-minded teenager would not have the courage to do that. Or the courage to call JAMB the number of times she did, and still stuck to her claims even when JAMB had told her she scored 249.

Secondly, (and this is where I have sympathy for her) given her poor background, she was desperately looking for help to go through University. Knowing that every JAMB highest scorer usually gets a scholarship award, she decided to go rogue, and added two marks to the score recorded by Miss Umeh.

Thirdly, Mmesoma knows she is from a country where forgery is like a second skin, where forgery seems to be in the Nations DNA, a country forgery and manipulation are celebrated.

She knows she lives in a country where many of its leaders and VIPs are products of forgery and manipulation. They forge their birth certificates. They forge their educational certificates. Many say they have PhDs without having a first degree. They manufacture names of non-existing Universities. They forge their company papers. They forge customs papers.They forge land papers. They forge marriage certificates, divorce papers. Was it not in Nigeria that a Speaker of the House of Representatives forged a first degree certificate? We have seen Federal Ministers with forged certificates. Governors, too, who wouldn’t answer questions on the degree certificates they parade because they are fake. It is a country where everything, anything is “forgeable.” Mmesoma knows some of these things, and knows there are no consequences for such ugly behaviors.

Most recently, Mmesoma witnessed the 2023 General elections. She is 19 years old. And, perhaps, if she was lucky to get her PVC, some of which were manipulated out of reach, she voted. So, she must have witnessed all the manipulations, the rigging, the forgeries, the snatching of ballot boxes which went on. The violence in order to cheat. There were no consequences. There are still are no consequences. And, most likely, there will be no consequences. So, for her, the crime she committed pales before all that. Forgery has become the way of life in our dear country. And, we are not ashamed of it.

Those who say Mmesoma’s condemnable behavior runs in Igbo blood should pause and count their teeth with their tongue. They should count the number of high profile forgeries in Nigeria and from which tribe the “forgers” are from.

To insult the Igbo tribe because of a misdemeanor by a teenager is the height of irresponsibility. Who will cast the first stone?

When the Igbo produce an Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it does not run in their blood. When they produce a Chimamanda Adichie, it does not run in their blood. When they produce some of the best brains in Nigeria and in the Diaspora, it does not run in their blood. When Igbo children like Mmesoma excel in some of the best Univerties in the world and become valedictorians, it does not run in their blood. But when an Igbo teenager stupidly goes rogue, just as a few others in other tribes did, it runs in the Igbo blood.

Haba!

For the records, all the vices in Igboland today – 419, yahoo-yahoo, drugs trafficking, human trafficking, human rituals, kidnapping, killings – were copied from other places. Until recently, they were alien to Igboland.

A word of advice: the old addage that “those who live in glass houses do not throw stones” still holds.

But back to Mmesoma. Let it be noted that she learnt at the feet of the many grandmasters in Nigeria. The punishment given to her by JAMB, considering the grave offence she committed, is appropriate. The recommendations by the Panel set-up by the Anambra State Government that she undergoes counseling and apologises publicly to JAMB and her school are also appropriate. She should strictly adhere to that. She also owes her parents an unadulterated apology if she has not offered it to them already. They must be finding it difficult to show their faces in public. Not a few people will point at them and snigger.

Finally, to JAMB. The Registrar says there are others who were also caught in the act. Why their names were not made public is what many people don’t still understand. True, Mmesoma opened her own can of worms by her desperation, but a crime whether hidden or open is a crime. Let’s have the names of other culprits. Here’s my plea: Unless the same punishment- three years ban – given to Mmesoma is the same given to her fellow culprits, the Board should temper justice with mercy in her case. She is in a mess already. Her name and her crime have gone viral. Her face too. For life, she will be referred to as “Mmesoma the forger, the fraudulent.” She is tainted. She may need a legal change of name to get on in life. Her name has been stigmatized.

JAMB should do two things: discard the idea of prosecuting her. And two, reduce the period she has been barred from UTME from three years to one year. One never knows.

After undergoing counseling, she could become a “JAMB Ambassador Against Forgery Of Scores.” It happens.