Alleged ₦5.2b Fraud: Court Rejects Ex-JAMB Registrar Ojerinde’s No-Case Submission, Orders Opening of Defence

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the no-case submission filed by Professor Dibu Ojerinde, former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in his ongoing trial over an alleged ₦5.2 billion fraud.

Presiding over the case, Justice Obiora Egwuatu ruled that the prosecution, led by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), had presented sufficient evidence to warrant Ojerinde entering a defence. The court thereby rejected his plea to dismiss the charges and ordered him to open his defence.

Ojerinde, who previously served as the head of both JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO), was first arraigned in July 2021 on an 18-count charge bordering on abuse of office and fraudulent diversion of public funds. The ICPC alleges that he engaged in multiple fraudulent transactions, violating the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act (2000) and the Advance Fee Fraud Act (2006).