The former registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Dibu Ojerinde, has been linked to two hidden properties in the United States (US) worth approximately $1.2 million, even as his ₦5.2 billion corruption trial remains stalled in court following its adjournment to April 30.
The federal high court in Abuja rescheduled the trial after the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, was absent due to an official assignment.
The adjournment is the latest in a series of setbacks that have slowed the case, which has also been hampered by resumed settlement talks between the prosecution and defence, as both sides informed the court at the July 16, 2025, proceedings.
Ojerinde was arraigned in July 2021 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on an 18-count charge bordering on abuse of office and the diversion of ₦5.2 billion during his 17-year tenure as the registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO) and JAMB.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Although Nigerian authorities have seized a number of his assets, including a petrol station, schools, hotels, upscale properties in Abuja, and shares in various companies, property records show two houses in Florida that were never listed among the assets earmarked for confiscation.
The houses, one in Miramar and another in Miami, are valued at approximately $1.2 million combined.
A separate 2023 indictment names three of Ojerinde’s sons, Adedayo Ojerinde, Olumide Ojerinde, and Oluwaseun Ojerinde, alongside his daughter-in-law, Mary Funmilola Ojerinde, and six companies as defendants.
The sons face charges of criminal conspiracy to conceal property linked to a corruption offence, while Mary faces two charges of concealing or managing property obtained through corrupt practices, specifically her takeover of corporate management and bank accounts that Ojerinde had operated under false identities.
The ICPC also alleged that Ojerinde used forged documents, stolen identities, and synthetic names to hide his ownership of companies and assets acquired through corruption.
The commission further stated that Ojerinde transferred management of two companies and their associated bank accounts to Mary when Nigeria introduced an anti-money laundering measure requiring a unique biometric identifier for all bank account holders.
In April 2015, Mary and her husband, Olumide, acquired their first Florida property in Miramar for $380,000, followed by a second $300,000 purchase in Miami by Olumide and his brother, Oluwaseun, in June 2017.
By 2019, the family had moved to shield these now-appreciated assets by placing them into land trusts in order to conceal the identities of ultimate beneficiaries.
The Miramar home was successfully transferred to the Lenciaga Land Trust, while the attempt to place the Miami property under the Venchy Land Trust failed after Miami-Dade County officials were unable to complete the title transfer because the trustee’s identity had not been specified.
The filing error remained uncorrected for four years until April 2023, less than a month after the indictment of the sons and daughter-in-law, when their US agent contacted Miami-Dade County to resolve the discrepancy.
Despite these efforts, public records indicate that the Miami property officially remains registered in the names of the two sons.
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