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

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

Mr Ojerinde, a professor, who is already facing trial on N5 billion fraud charges at the same court, is expected to be arraigned alongside four of his children on the fresh 17 charges today (Friday).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Ojerinde’s four children charged along with him as co-defendants are Mary Funmilola, Olumide Abiodun, Adedayo and Oluwaseun Adeniyi.

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

Mr Ojerinde and the 10 defendants, charged before a Federal High Court judge in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo, had yet to take their pleas as of the time of filing the report.

ICPC accused them in the fresh case of diverting public funds while he served as National Examinations Council (NECO) and JAMB registrar.

Previous charges

ICPC had arraigned him before another judge of the court, Obiora Egwuatu, in July 2021 on 18 counts involving the diversion of funds during his time as the registrar of NECO till his time as JAMB’s chief executive.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how ICPC opened its case in February after the breakdown of a plea-bargain talks Mr Ojerinde ha with the anti-graft agency.

In April 2022, an ICPC’s witness who testified on how Mr Ojerinde allegedly set up a radio station with N15million diverted from JAMB.

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

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

According to him, the radio station was located in a compound where Mr Ojerinde’s late mother also lived, adding that an adjoining plot of land was purchased to accommodate the mast and antenna.

Taking a walk down the 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 a meeting.

He said the defendant subsequently instructed a JAMB account officer to issue bank drafts of N15 million to procure the radio licence.

“The defendant then called Jimoh Olabisi who happened to be an accounting staff of JAMB and in a meeting in his house in Maitama, Abuja, he said that any matter related to financial issues should be directed to Mr Jimoh.

“Subsequently, Mr Jimoh gave me bank drafts of N15 million to pay NBC as part of the requirements for obtaining a license. I paid the draft to NBC, gave original documents to Jimoh Olabisi, and kept photocopies of the documents for my records,” he said.