Ex-JAMB registrar, Dibu Ojerinde, four children, face fresh fraud charges

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offenses Commission (ICPC) has filed fraud charges against the former Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Agency (JAMB)Dibu Ojerinde, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Mr. Ojerinde, a professor, who has been facing trial on N5 billion fraud charges in the same court, is expected to be arraigned together with his four children on new charges today (Friday).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the four Ojerinde charged alongside him as co-accused are Mary Funmilola, Olumide Abiodun, Adedayo and Oluwaseun

The list of defendants also includes Mr Ojerinde’s companies – Doyin Ogbohi Petroleum Ltd, Cheng Marbles Ltd, Sapati International Schools Ltd, Trillium Learnings Center Ltd and Standout Institutes Ltd.

Mr. Ojerinde and the 10 defendants, who were arraigned before a judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo, had not entered a plea when they filed the report.

The ICPC accused him in a recent case of diverting public funds while he was the National Examinations Council (NECO) and JAMB registrar.

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The ICPC has arraigned him before another court judge, Obiora Egwuatu, in July 2021 on 18 counts involving the diversion of funds during his tenure as NECO registrar to JAMB chief executive.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the ICPC opened the case in February following the breakdown of Mr. Ojerinde ha’s plea-bargain negotiations with the anti-corruption agency.

In April 2022, an ICPC witness who testified on how Mr. Ojerinde allegedly set up a radio station with N15 million was diverted from JAMB.

READ ALSO: ICPC re-arrests former JAMB registrar, Ojerinde

Najeem Sanusi, a retired air commodore, who described himself as the co-owner of the radio station, said it was incorporated as Ifelodun Communications and cited in Mr. Ojerinde’s home town, Oke-Ogun, Oyo State.

According to him, the radio station is in the compound that was also left by Mr. Ojerinde’s late mother, adding that the adjacent land was bought to accommodate the mast and antenna.

Walking down memory lane, Mr. Sanusi told the court how he proposed the idea of ​​establishing the radio station to Mr. Ojerinde in 2015.

He testified that the former JAMB boss welcomed the idea and immediately invited his lawyer, Peter Oyewole, to the meeting.

He said the accused then instructed the JAMB account officer to issue a bank draft of N15 million to obtain a radio licence.

“The accused then called Jimoh Olabisi who happened to be a JAMB accounting staff and in a meeting at his home in Maitama, Abuja, he said that anything related to financial matters should be directed to Mr. Jimoh.

“Furthermore, Mr. Jimoh gave me a bank draft of N15 million to pay to NBC as part of the conditions for obtaining the license. I paid the draft to NBC, gave the original document to Jimoh Olabisi, and kept a photocopy of the document for my records,” he said.