Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that a former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Lawrence Adedibu Ojerinde, be remanded in prison custody.
In a ruling, yesterday, Egwuatu ordered that Ojerinde be kept in a correctional facility pending the hearing of his bail application, scheduled for tomorrow.
Ojerinde was arraigned on an 18-count charge in suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/97/2021 accused of complicity in the diversion of over N900 million.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) alleged that Ojerinde committed the offences from 2003 when he served as the registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO) till 2021.
Ojerinde pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him. His lawyer, Peter Olorunnishola, subsequently informed the court about a bail application he filed and served on ICPC’s lawyer, Ebenezer Shogunle.
Olorunnishola sought time to react to the counter-affidavit filed by the lawyer to the prosecution.
Shogunle, who did not object to Olorunnishola’s request for time however opposed the defence lawyer’s application that his client should be allowed to remain on administrative bail, earlier granted him by the ICPC pending the hearing of his bail application.
Egwuatu rejected the defence counsel’s request and ordered that the ex-registrar be held in prison custody till tomorrow when his bail application would be considered.
In count one, Ojerinde was alleged to have, while serving as the registrar of NECO, used his position to gratify himself by “corruptly converting the sum of N27 million, property of the Federal Government of Nigeria, to personal use, to acquire a property known as Tejumola House, Ikeja, Lagos in the name of Doyin Ogbohi Industries Ltd, a company in which you have a private interest.”
