Former governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye; and former governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, who were both serving prison time for stealing N1.16bn and N1.6bn respectively, have been pardoned by the federal government of Muhammadu Buhari.
The former Governors made the list of convicts (159 convicts) who were pardoned by President Muhammadu Buhari who presided over a Council of State on Thursday April 14.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami who spoke to journalists after the council of state meeting, said 159 out of 162 applications presented for consideration for the prerogative of mercy for convicts and inmates in correctional facilities nationwide, were approved.
Malami noted that the council rejected a proposal to grant pardon to one of the prisoners sentenced to 120 years for theft of over N25bn. The pardon, he said, was sought on health grounds.
Dariye and Nyame were convicted by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in 2018. Dariye, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, was jailed for laundering public funds to the tune of N1.162bn and was sentenced to 14 years in prison by Justice Banjoko who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Dariye’s prison term was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja while his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
And for Nyame, who was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stealing N1.6bn from the state’s treasury, a judgment which was also upheld by the Supreme Court.