Former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. ‘Dibu Ojerinde, on Tuesday in Abuja, opted for plea bargain with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission apparantly to get a soft landing.
Ojerinde is standing trial for alleged N5bn fraud.
At the Federal High Court in Abuja, where his trial was scheduled to commence, Ojerinde pleaded with Justice Obiora Egwuatu to give him 24 hours to enter into an agreement with the ICPC through plea bargain instead of a formal trial.
His new lead counsel, Ibrahim Ishyaku (SAN), told the court that his client preferred an out-of-court settlement through plea bargain to resolve the matter.
The lead counsel said the trial could commence if after 24 hours the matter could not be resolved.
“My Lord, our plea is that we should be given 24 hours to explore the possibility of plea bargain to resolve this matter and we ask that the trial be adjourned for the period to enable us to come up with our terms of settlement,” Ishyaku stated.
The counsel for the ICPC, Ebenezer Sogunle, did not object to the request, but insisted that the trial should proceed in case the plea bargain arrangement fails.
The ICPC had on July 8, 2021 arraigned the former JAMB registrar on an 18 counts bordering on diversion of public funds to the tune of N5bn.
He was said to have committed the offence during his tenure as registrar of both the National Examination Council and JAMB.
Ojerinde, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was later granted bail in the sum of N200m.
Justice Egwuatu fixed February 9 as the date for the presentation of the report on the plea bargain.
