BREAKING: Ex-JAMB Registrar Granted N200m Bail After Being Assisted To Dock

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted the bail application filed by former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Dibu Ojerinde.

Trial judge Obiora Egwuatu made the decision while ruling on the bail.

He said that since the ICPC had earlier granted the defendant administrative bail, there was no evidence in court that he would jump bail.

“When it comes to granting bail, the court will look at certain criteria like the criminal record of the defendant.

“There is no evidence before this court that the defendant breached the administrative bail granted him.

“Bail pending conclusion of trial is a constitutional right.

“I find that this application has merit…Accordingly, bail is granted to the defendant in the sum of 200 million naira with two sureties including a professor,” he ruled.

Earlier, the ex-JAMB registrar, who was brought in by prison officials, was seen being assisted to walk towards the dock to hear the outcome of his bail application.

Recall that Ojerinde was on Tuesday arraigned before Justice Obiora Egwuatu by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), on an 18-count charge bordering on alleged N5b fraud.

The ICPC, through its lawyer, Ebenezer Shogunle, had stated that while Ojerinde was serving as the Registrar of the National the Examination Council (NECO) and subsequently JAMB Registrar in Minna (2003), he was allegedly diverting monies belonging to the institution to a company of which he had private interest.

Part of the court document reads, “That you Professor Lawrence Adedibu Ojerinde, on or about 16th February 2009, in Abuja used your position as Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) too confer corrupt advantage upon one Jimoh Olabisi Olatunde, a public officer, by instructing Zenith Bank Plc to open an account No. 1002833087 in the name of JAMB/J.O. Olabisi into which you subsequently diverted a cumulative sum of N2,769,083,044.04 (Two Billion, Seven Hundred and Sixty-Nine Million, Eighty Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty-Six Naira, Four Kobo) property of the Federal Government of Nigeria, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.”

But the professor pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During the proceedings on Thursday, Ojerinde’s counsel, Peter Olorunnisola, SAN, urged the court to grant his application.

“My lord, we have filed a reply to the counter affidavit of the prosecution and it is dated 7 July.

“We have a motion for this court to grant the defendant bail pending the determination of the case,” he said.

But ICPC lawyer, Shogunle opposed the application.

However, the judge asked him if the defendant breached terms when the ICPC granted him administrative bail after arresting him.

“Did you grant the applicant bail while he was in your custody?

“Did he breach terms of the bail that you granted him?”

Responding, the ICPC team claimed that he had violated the bail conditions given him by the agency.

“Yes my lord, in the course of investigation, the applicant was released on administration bail so as to produce his family member for interrogation.

“But the applicant was looking for a plea bargain while his family members are yet to come and testify.

“There are other investigation going on concerning the dealings of the defendant and there are witnesses in those investigation that are subject to the influence of the defendant,”

“His claim of ill-health are not backed by any health report,” he said.

But the judge countered the prosecution lawyer, saying the point he had raised was not a ground for denying someone bail.

Subsequently, he adjourned hearing on the case to 22 and 23 July.

THE WHISTLER reported that the operatives of the anti-corruption commission had in March arrested Ojerinde on allegation of misappropriation of funds.