A witness for the prosecution has told the Federal High Court in Abuja how a former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)Dibu Ojerinde allegedly acquired election assets through cronies while in office.
Peter Oyewole, who said he was serving as Ojerinde’s personal lawyer at the time, appeared in court on Wednesday as the first prosecution witness in the N5.2 billion fraud case brought against the former JAMB chief.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) had indicted Mr Ojerinde in July 2021 on 18 counts related to the diversion of N5.2 billion in public funds.
According to the anti-corruption agency, Mr. Ojeride committed the crimes when he was a registrar for the National Examinations Council (NECO) until his time as executive director of JAMB.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the ICPC seized billions of naira worth of assets allegedly linked to the proceeds of the alleged fraud in April 2020.
The assets seized from him included schools, gas stations and houses located in different parts of Ilorin in Kwara state, Ibadan and Ogbomoso in Oyo state, Ile Ife in Osun state and Abuja.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ojerinde requested that his trial be postponed for 24 hours to discuss the possibility of reaching a plea deal with ICPC.
But the trial had to continue after the prosecutor, Ebenezer Shogunle, announced on Wednesday the collapse of the talks according to the prosecution.
Shogunle did not disclose the details of the parties’ proposals. Lawyers for both sides were also unwilling to reveal the details of the talks after the trial.
Testimony of the first prosecution witness
Oyewole, who was called to the witness stand after the breakdown in talks was announced on Wednesday. He told the court how he helped Mr. Ojerinde incorporate companies and buy assets while he was serving as a lawyer for the former head of JAMB.
The witness said that Mr. Ojerinde launched eight companies, bought three buildings and bank shares through his cronies during his time in office.
“In 2008, the defendant resumed a new assignment in Abuja as Registrar of JAMB after the expiration of his term as Registrar of NECO.
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“He came with two of his former employees at NECO to resume in Abuja and they needed houses. I bought two duplexes and a bungalow at EFAB Properties Ltd.
“The properties were still under construction. And so I was instructed by the defendant (Mr. Ojerinde) to purchase on behalf of my firm with a follow-up of the properties to completion in accordance with specification.
“At the instruction of the defendant, I delivered the original title documents to the son of the defendant, the Hon. Olumide Ojerinde (now an active member of the House of Representatives) on August 3, 2012,” Mr. Oyewole told the court.
The eight companies allegedly incorporated by the defendant are Oke-Afin Boys and Girls Hostel Limited, Sapati International School, Doyin Ogbohi Petroleum Limited, Cheng Marbles Limited, Standout Institute Limited, Trillion Learning Center Limited, Grace Petroleum Limited, and Ifelodun Communications Limited.
The companies’ incorporation certificates and title deeds to the three buildings allegedly purchased for Mr. Ojerinde in Abuja were submitted and admitted as evidence by Judge Obiora Egwuatu.
The witness for the prosecution, who was brought forward as a witness by ICPC’s lawyer, Mr. Sogunle, claimed to have been called to the Nigerian bar in 1999. He told Mr. Egwuatu that the companies were referred to under the names he provided. Mr. Ojerinde.
ICPC Headquarters
He testified that Ojerinde was registered as a director in two of the companies, while his cronies’ names were used as directors in the rest, adding that he never knew any of the cronies at the time he used their names in the Foreign Affairs Commission. Corporate.
The ‘friends’ used to register the companies are: Ojerinde Dayo, Ojerinde Olumide, Awodayo Habib, Adeyanju Gbenga, Ojerinde Olutoyin, Ojerinde Akanbi, Ojerinde Adedayo, Olayiwola Ayanwale and Ibrahim Danmusa, Ojerinde Dibu, Sanusi Alade Najeem, among others.
He said that the receipts obtained in the course of dealings for the defendant were received and acknowledged in writing on his behalf by his son, Olumide Ojerinde.
The witness who claimed to be indigenous from the same village, Igboho, with Mr. Ojerinde, denied having registered companies for the accused to blackmail him, adding that everything he did was on the instructions of the accused.
To support his allegations, the witness presented 12 letters exchanged between him and the defendant as well as 17 photocopies of bank drafts issued for his payment for the registration of companies and the purchase of the three buildings.
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The 17 photocopies of the bank drafts were allegedly given to him by Jimoh Olabisi, former JAMB Finance Director, and were admitted into evidence.
Mr. Oyewole further told the court that Mr. Ojerinde purchased millions of shares in Osanta Micro-Finance Limited in addition to being a director of the bank at the time he was JAMB’s registrar.
But Mr. Ojerinde’s lawyer, Ibrahim Ishyaku, was unable to cross-examine the witness because several documents submitted and admitted as evidence were not part of the evidence provided to him.
The Nigerian Senior Advocate then requested an adjournment in order to obtain the documents and study them carefully.
Given the non-objection of the prosecution, the judge set April 4 and 5 for the continuation of the trial.