A Mirror Reflection of Nigeria – Mmesoma -By Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor

I have watched with great interest; the way Nigerians have “hooed and booed” as well as “nattered and bantered” then “hued and cried” about the “Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) & Mmesoma” saga. It is very interesting how I have heard some say, “how can a child fake her JAMB result?” Others took on role of judge and jury by shouting “JAMB should ban her forever from taking the examination again not just for 3 years”. Some other groups proffer a solution by requesting and pushing for how “All the scholarships given to her should be withdrawn”.

JAMB on their path, after abandoning a most uncivilised, non-ethical and very basal way of how a government institution can exchange words with a teenager on social media 101, because the public cried out that a formal independent enquiry be set up (this was Rocket Science for our almighty apex examination organising body) they came out to make pronouncements. They gave a press statement in the news that “the report of an independent and unbiased body, as demanded by some Nigerians to look into the Mmesoma saga, has vindicated the Board. This has further reinforced the position of the Board that its system was not and cannot be compromised. It is to be noted that the Board has built a reputation in terms of the conduct of credible examinations over the years and cannot afford to fail the nation at this critical juncture of its development”.

Dear readers, join me please, let us reflect on JAMB’s statement above. It brings tears to my eyes to see how JAMB ended their press release with how they cannot afford to fail the nation at this critical juncture of its development. Pardon me? My fellow Nigerians, pray, the last I checked, is it July the 13^th 2023? Yes, this is true.  Are we at a critical juncture of development of Nigeria?  Yes, this is true. Is this development the positive growth of our shared sense of nationhood? No, this is false. This is false because at this juncture, the concept of our shared nationhood has never been lower. Since 25^th of February 2023, we spiralled into the abyss, and are only struggling to climb out. We have had one of the greatest MISCARRIAGE OF LEADERSHIP in the history of our nation. Since gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria has been trying to get PREGNANT, maintain the VIABILITY of her pregnancy and then BIRTH AN ALIVE & WELL CHILD – A WORKING DEMOCRACY.  Repeated military coups and successive governments without a notion of what continuity in governance means, have underperformed. All these hydra-headed challenges have kept our country in a state of – RECCURENT MISCARRIAGES OF LEADERSHIP AND A DELAY IN NIGERIA BIRTHING AN ALIVE AND WELL WORKING DEMOCRACY – OUR BABY.

Currently, on our national stage, Nigerians and the rest of the world are watching the legalisation of illegality as committed by our Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who have inadvertently handed the Baton over to our Nigerian Judiciary to reverse our miscarriage of LEADERSHIP.  This is the juncture we are at. Mmesoma, our dearest youngster has been learning and watching our national stage performance as a nation. No doubt she is a good student and a scholar of no mean repute.

It is against this backdrop, that I disagree with JAMB and those of us self-righteous fellow Nigerians as we heap the blame onto Mmesoma. We have on our hands, a very good student of our national stage who is so good that she is a mirror image of what our national script writers, actors and actresses have handed down. It is my view, that the superheroes and heroines of our criminal justice system and their resonating advocates, must see beyond the “nail hammer phenomenon” of dispensing justice. They must consider how our society tipped this young lady into the grey area and spectrum of “forced criminality”.  I want to thank those who took a humane decision not to revoke the scholarship they awarded Mmesoma. In their wisdom, they have created the road map that will liberate not just this Mmesoma but the many Mmesoma’s of our time. This is neither to say we should not hold people accountable for their actions nor is it to advocate a celebration of criminality. Rather, it is a wake-up call, for all of us, young and old, leaders and followers, to reflect on the legacies we are bequeathing in the hearts of our future generation by our everyday actions. To do this, we must build strong, functional institutions.

A working democracy will build strong institutions that will out-live Nigerian strong men and women. Currently, our nation is pregnant, and we must work hard to avoid another threatened miscarriage of her pregnancy, which will birth our democracy – the baby all of us must tenaciously keep hope alive for. Furthermore, to halt the audacity of Mmesomas at the Local and Family levels, champion league Mmesomas at the Federal and National levels need to quit their game. As it stands, the awoke Nigerian followership following the Obidient wave are blowing the whistle to indicate it is emergency code red time.  These Vawulence Nigerians are catalysts agitating the societal induced self-cleansing reaction that is beaming the search light on the Nigerian Judiciary who is the new Midwife, whose duty it is, to deliver this baby. I hear many saying “a new Nigeria is possible”. I beg to disagree because despite the negative reflection that is Mmesoma, I am stood here before my mirror on the wall, asking it to show me the fairest nation of them all. As I stare deep into the two windows to my soul, I hear it loud and clear that there is no stopping these catalysts who are no longer possible, but who are now here to stay. In my analysis, “a new Nigeria is upon us”, and we can all feel it that Nigerians are watching, Africa is watching, the world is watching, a Nigeria on trial.

Dr Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor is Author of the book My Father’s Daughter