Court remands ex-JAMB registrar in prison over N900m fraud

A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the remand of a former registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Adedibu Ojerinde, in prison custody.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday arraigned Ojerinde in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/97/2021, on an 18 counts bordering on misappropriation of funds to the tune of N900m.
The commission alleged that the former registrar committed multiple frauds while heading JAMB and the National Examination Council (NECO).
Upon arraignment, Ojerinde pleaded not guilty.
Defendant counsel, Peter Olorunnishola, subsequently informed the court about a bail application he filed and served on the prosecution.
He said the prosecution counsel, Ebenezer Shogunle, had filed a counter-affidavit but served it late. He then sought time to respond to the counter affidavit.
Shogunle, who did not object to Olorunnishola’s request for time, opposed the defence lawyer’s application that his client be allowed to remain on the administrative bail, earlier granted him by the ICPC, pending the hearing of his bail application.
The judge, Obiora Egwuatu, in his ruling, ordered that Ojerinde be kept in a correctional facility pending the hearing of his bail application, scheduled for Thursday.