Court orders release of ex-JAMB registrar Ojerinde, fines ICPC N1.2m

Court orders release of ex-JAMB registrar Ojerinde, fines ICPC N1.2m 

 

A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the immediate release or arraignment of Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, former Registrar of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The court also ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to pay N1 million to him for unlawful detention.

Obiora Egwuatu, presiding judge, awarded additional N200,000 fine against the ICPC as the cost of instituting the suit.

Ojerinde was first arrested by the ICPC in March 2021.

On July 6, 2021, he was arraigned on an 18 counts bordering on alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of N5.2 billion while in office.

He was later granted bail while the trial continued but in January 2023 he was rearrested by the ICPC on the premises of the court.

The former JAMB registrar sued the ICPC for allegedly violating his right to dignity and liberty.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Egwuatu held that though Ojerinde’s rearrest was legal and lawful based on the search warrant obtained from the chief judge of the court, the anti-graft commission ought to have obtained a detention warrant.
The judge held that detaining the applicant without a proper order and not arraigning him was a breach of his fundamental right to liberty.

However, the court held that Ojerinde’s right to the dignity of a person was not breached since he was unable to show that he was either tortured or brought into forced slavery.

The judge ordered that the former JAMB registrar should be released or arraigned immediately.

Although Ojerinde had sought N500 million as compensation and another N100 million as the cost of instituting the suit, the court awarded N1 million as damages and N200,000 as litigation cost.