A Federal High Court in Abuja has remanded Professor Lawrence Adedibu Ojerinde, a former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in prison custody over alleged N5 billion fraud.
Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, former registrar of JAMB
Justice Obiora Egwuatu ordered that Ojerinde be kept in a correctional facility pending the hearing of his bail application, scheduled for July 8.
Justice Egwuatu gave the ruling after Ojerinde, dressed in a white native attire, was arraigned on an 18-count charge of complicity in the diversion of public funds.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which arraigned him, slammed 18-count charges on him bordering on abuse of office and fraud to the tune of N5 billion.
One of the charges alleged that, “Professor Lawrence Adedibu Ojerinde, on or about March 11, 2003, in Minna while being a public officer charged with the administration and management of a federal government agency, used your position as Registrar/Chief Executive of the National Examinations Council (NECO) to gratify yourself by corruptly converting the sum of N27 million property of the Federal Government of Nigeria known as Tejumola House, Ikeja, Lagos in the name of Doyin Ogboyi Industries Ltd, a company in which you have a private interest and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”
“That you Professor Lawrence Adedibu Ojerinde, on or about February 16, 2009, in Abuja used your position as Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to confer a corrupt advantage upon one Jimoh Olabisi Olatunde, a public officer, by instructing Zenith Bank Plc to open an account No. 1002833087 in the name of JAMB/J.O. Olabisi into which you subsequently diverted a cumulative sum of N2,769,083,044.04 property of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000,” another charge read.
But when the charges were read to him, Ojerinde pleaded not guilty, prompting P. A. Olorunnisola, SAN, defence counsel, to ask the court for bail for his client on medical grounds.
However, the ICPC prosecution team, in a counter-affidavit, argued that the application did not carry any medical proof and that ill-health was not enough grounds for granting bail.
In his response, Mr Olorunnisola prayed to the court for an adjournment to enable them to respond to the affidavit by the prosecution.
In his ruling, Justice Egwuatu said the bail application will be heard on Thursday, July 8, 2021, while the accused person was remanded in Suleja Prison.