The key witness in the alleged N5.2 billion fraud trial of former Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Jibu Ojerinde, Dr. Jimoh Olabisi Olatunde, has died.
Olatunde, said to be Ojerinde’s kinsman and trusted confidant, from Igboho in Oyo State, served as the Accountant/Deputy Director (Account) in JAMB while Ojerinde was in office.
The Nation learnt that Olatunde died early on Sunday at the National Hospital, Abuja where he had been on administration for an undisclosed ailment.
A senior official of the National Hospital confirmed his death but was silent on the cause of death.
The official said: “Yes he is dead. He is now in the morgue.”
The deceased was the key witness in Ojerinde’s prosecution before the Federal High Court in Abuja on and 18-count charge brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The ICPC accused him, in the ongoing trial before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja of, among others, diverting public funds estimated at about N5.2 billion while he was the head of the National Examination Council (NECO), and later JAMB.