Mmesoma : who will cast first stone?
Mmesoma has confessed and must be pardoned. Professor Ishaq Oloyede must see with the eyes of Jesus.
Jesus Christ, undoubtedly the greatest man that ever lived had a real life encounter that perfectly address the situation of teenage girl Mmesoma Ejikeme whose name means God's kindness and that must be applied to the problem she is faced with now. Mmesoma is a metaphor for everything that is wrong in Nigeria. In that encounter while Jesus taught the people, his unrelenting enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees who were also the custodian of religion in their days brought a woman to him who was caught in adultery, in the very act, the bible adds for emphasis. The woman was really not the target but Jesus the new teacher of religion who had claimed he was from God and in deed the Son of God. They quoted the law of Moses which was the guiding light that says any person caught in adultery must be stoned to death. They asked Jesus what was his own ruling in that situation. The bible added that they did that in order to have an occasion to accuse Jesus and set him against the law of Moses, the contravention of which could result in the death of the offender. While the Scribes and Pharisees brought the woman they left the man with which she committed the act back at home, the woman is always the problem, the man can never be wrong.
Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and inhumanity to fellow human. He saw through man's self justification and condemnation when it concerns the other person. He asked that the first person in the crowd who had never sinned should should cast the first stone. That is exactly what the law of Moses which they pride themselves in said. They had never thought of that or at least they had not done their homework well before they brought the unfortunate woman before Jesus, their aim was to get Jesus into a corner from which they thought he would not escape. Now they got him! But then their consciences began to torture them, the eldest remembered the adultery he committed that didn't leak to anybody and quietly he walked away, another elder remembered the money he stole which nobody heard of and also carefully walked away. Everybody continued to leave until only the woman and Jesus were left in the place. Then Jesus asked the woman, "has anybody condemned you? To which the woman replied in the negative. Jesus joined in and said he also is not accusing the woman. He asked her to go and not to sin again.
When the story of Mmesoma broke, stones were aimed at her from every corner. She became the reflection of the Nigerian society. To the anti Ndigbo fanatics, it became an opportunity to punch hole at the Ndigbo claim to superiority of intelligence. It was Mmesoma that they claimed they attacked but the Ndigbo was the real target. For the Ndigbo, especially the those who are angry that Peter Obi, one of their own, did not win the last presidential election, it was time to lash out at the Yoruba whose son was declared winner of the election. All kinds of stories were fabricated to justify the position they want to project. One particular story that I read that really got me was from an Igbo man who said he knew Mmesoma personally, traced her pedigree, said she had always been very brilliant, a story that is true but added that she had gone into coma because she was traumatized by the accusation that she forged the UTME examination result. Some others took Professor Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB registrar, to the cleaners. He wants to rubbish the little girl who is Igbo and a Christian because he's an Islamic Scholar who has his PhD in Islamic and Arabic study as if that has anything to do with the job the clean professor was hired to do at JAMB. Meanwhile, for four years of his first tenure, Professor Oloyede had turned JAMB to a cash cow for the Federal Government. He had continuously cleaned the examination body that had become before him an insult to anything that is called integrity.
When his tenure ended, Oloyede quietly prepared his handover notes and gave them to the man who was next to him in hierarchy, an Igbo man. The professor beat all indices of tribalism in that single act. I think he was reappointed because of his sterling performance. Yet Nigeria will not spare him. I'm so clear in my mind that Professor Ishaq Oloyede could not have set out to nail Mmesoma but he had a job to do in a corruption riddled Nigeria and he must do it. The professor has also demonstrated that religion may be his calling but religion will not make him to do evil to persons who are not of the same faith with him. An issue of religious suspicion once came up in JAMB. The professor allowed a group of members of CAN to visit JAMB and see things for themselves. They saw that the change that was complained of was indeed initiated by a Christian member of staff of JAMB and they left praising the professor and JAMB.
In slamming Mmesoma with a three year ban from writing JAMB examination, the body is within its competence. In a discussion with a friend, he said Mmesoma must not only be banned, she must also be taken to court, tried and if convicted sent to jail. He believed that it is because the nation has not been punishing offenders that crimes prevail in the country. As he illustrated his theory, I looked at him and I mused that I wish Mmesoma were his daughter and I will want to know his views again. I doubt if he will want his 19 year old daughter to be sent to jail. That's like all humans, we want our sins forgiven but we want those of others punished without any consideration for mercy. Why should Mmesoma have forged her result? I was taught in my social psychology class in the university that the Igbo has the highest need for achivement in Nigeria, N-ach. It was actually measured. It reflects in all their attitudes to life. N-ach is another name for ambition. There is nothing wrong with ambition, the only thing wrong with it is when the ambitious want to archieve it by cutting corners or attempting to pull others down in order for him or her to move up.
In the case of Mmesoma, what happened is pressure to perform. She is said to be a very brilliant student right from her primary school days. She performed very excellently in her common entrance examination done to secure admission into secondary school. She most likely expected to score very highly in JAMB. Her parents expected her to continue the streak of highwire performance she is known for. Her school authority expected her also to shine in the examination. That was why when the issue of forgery arose, they rose to defend her. Her peers also expected her to be a top performer. She also expected peak performance after she wrote the examination. She was disappointed with the result, it couldn't be hers,' she probably thought. She must find a way out of it. She thought to upgrade the result and she did it, she couldn't let herself, her parents, her schools and her peers down. I'm sure when she gave herself 362 in her forged result, she didn't think that was going to be the best in the country, there is no way she could have known what the best result would be. She just wanted a mark that will qualify her to read her chosen course in the university and pleased all her pressure points. I'm sure when it turned out to be the best, it unsettled her a little. Maybe that's why she looked innocent and unsteady everywhere she went to receive accolade.
Now Mmesoma has confessed. She confessed before the panel set by the Anambra State government. We must commend the state's commissioner of education who suspected a foul play and did not hide it but rather called JAMB to find out. That tells me the kind of integrity that rules in the state. It tells me the Soludo team is solid. It was also the same Anambra that got her to confess. But like Jesus, Professor Ishaq Oloyede must lift the three year ban. A three year ban may mean the girl not continuing her education again. But a pardon will surely turn her around for good. Circumstances like hers is certain to make her a good person in the society. Punishment has always not produced desired change. How many prisoners return from prison and become more hardened? Almost all of them everyehere in the world. Grace will do what the law can never do. I don't think the woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus will for ever commit adultery again. Why? Because she had seen mercy. Mmesoma has confessed and must be pardoned. Professor Ishaq Oloyede must see with the eyes of Jesus.
When she is again faced with pressure to perform she will respond differently. I don't want any of my children to go to jail and I don't want Mmesoma to go to jail. Sending her to jail will ruin her career. It isn't that she is not brilliant, she is and sending her to jail at that tender age can make her become antisocial. She must be sent for psychological counselling. When Bill Clinton, America's 42nd president was alleged to have committed adultery right in his office, the first thing he said was that he needed a pastor at that crucial point in his life. America did not forget what he did for their economy. Why did he need a pastor? Because he needed a moral turn around which a pastor can give. What Mmesoma need at the crucial turn in her life is a moral strengthening. If I was the money man Innocent Chukwuma, CEO of Innoson Motors, I will withdraw the scholarship given secretly but still behind the scene assure her of responsibility over her education till graduation. That will make a great woman out of her.
Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.