Former governors Joshua Dariye of Plateau state and Jolly Nyame of Taraba state who were imprisoned on various counts of corruption and theft of public funds have been released by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCos).
They were serving jail terms for corruption allegations until they were granted a presidential pardon by the Council of State, led by the President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) who on April 14, approved the pardon of 159 convicts including Dariye and Nyame who were separately convicted for stealing N1.16bn and N1.6bn respectively.
The former governors were convicted by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal High Court, Abuja in 2018.
Dariye was convicted of stealing N1.16 billion while serving as Plateau State governor from 1999 to 2007 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. But his term was eventually reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, while his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
Nyame, who was Taraba governor from 1999 to 2007, was convicted of stealing N1.6 billion from the state’s treasury and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The judgment was also upheld by the Supreme Court.
Spokesman of the Federal Capital Territory FCT Command of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Humphrey Chukwuedo confirmed the release of both men.
Asked why they were not released since April; the spokesman said the Service could not just release them based on verbal pronouncements.
“There was a process of documentation when they came. We received certain written instructions to that effect. So, we could not just release them without also receiving written instructions to the effect.