Prof. Adedibu Ojerinde, a former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), was re-arrested yesterday in Abuja by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The Federal High Court in Abuja issued a warrant for Ojerinde’s re-arrest. Ojerinde is expected to meet a team of investigators regarding his current trial for suspected diversion of money while a public officer, according to ICPC spokeswoman Azuka Ogugua, who stated this in Abuja.
According to him, ICPC agents discovered two accounts formed in the names of Trillium Learning Centre Ltd and Sapati International Schools Ltd into which cash was siphoned while using bogus student identities.
On December 12, 2022, the Commission summoned the former registrant for interrogation over the new evidence. However, he had written through his solicitor, requesting a 14-day grace period to honor the offer.
Ojerinde, on the other hand, refused to honor the offer, as agreed by his counsel, after the window closed on December 27, 2022. The Commission discovered evidence that Ojerinde is the only signatory to several bank accounts managed in the names of Trillium Learning Centre Ltd and Sapati International School Ltd throughout its continuing investigation.
Ojerinde allegedly used fictitious identities and falsified documents in the names of Joshua Olakulehin Olaniran and Akanbi Lamidi to manage those accounts. He also allegedly used another alias, Adeniyi Banji, to run a separate account under the name Standout Institutes Ltd.
The ICPC also stated that it recovered checkbooks for the companies’ accounts from Ojerinde, who is being held at the Commission’s headquarters.
Ojerinde is currently being prosecuted by the Commission in the Federal High Courts of Abuja and Minna on an 18-count accusation of abuse of authority and fraud amounting to about N10 billion while working as the chairman of two government bodies, the National Examination Council (NECO) and JAMB.
He was accused of conferring corrupt benefits on himself at various times while leading JAMB and NECO, in violation of Sections 19, 24, 25 (1) (a) and (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and Section 1 (1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, 2006.
