WorldStage Newsonline– Nigeria’s National Council of State have granted state pardon to 157 people, among them were Sen. Joshua Dariye former governor of Plateau and Rev. Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba.
Other include former army general and minister in the Gen. Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and a lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide to Gen. Oladipo Diya, former deputy to Gen. Abacha.
All junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup were also granted state pardon.
Dariye and Nyame were serving terms at the Kuje Correctional Centre, FCT, over financial malfeasance while in office between 1999 and 2007.
Meanwhile, Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue has expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Council of State for the gesture.
Ortom’s appreciation was conveyed in a statement issued in Makurdi on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Nathaniel Ikyur.
“Ortom, while fielding questions on a national television programme a fortnight ago, appealed to the Federal Government to review the cases of Dariye and Nyame with a view to granting them state pardon,’’ he stated.
Ortom said in the statement that some useful lessons must have been learnt from the incarceration of the duo for abuse of office.
The governor also thanked friends, families and political associates of Dariye and Nyame who stood by them during their incarceration.
Nyame, 66, was governor of Taraba from 1999 to 2007. He was serving a 12-year jail term.
The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in February 2020.
Dariye, 64, was Plateau governor also between 1999 and 2007. He was jailed for stealing N2 billion.
The former governor, elected as senator representing Plateau Central in the Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018, but still completed his tenure from jail in June 2019.
Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the FCT convicted Dariye on June 12, 2018, and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and two years jail term for criminal misappropriation.
Following an appeal against the judgment, the Court of Appeal in Abuja reduced the jail term to 10 years on Nov. 16, 2018.
While the Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction, it held that Section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 prohibited the imposition of a maximum sentence on a first offender, such as the convict.
TARABA POLITICIANS JUBILATE
Sections of Taraba residents on Friday celebrated the release of former Gov. Jolly Nyame from prison.
Nyame, 66, was governor of Taraba from 1999 to 2007. He was serving a 12-year jail term for financial malfeasance and abuse of office until Thursday when the National Council of State met and granted him state pardon.
Dr Joseph Kunini, Speaker of Taraba House of Assembly commended the National Council of State for the decision to pardon the former governor.
“Former Gov. Nyame is a worthy son of the state with vast knowledge that will benefit the people,’’ he said.
Alhaji Ibrahim Imam, a former Commissioner for Youths and Sports equally commended the decision of the Council to grant pardon to the former governor.
While congratulating Nyame on the freedom granted him, Imam called on the former governor to use his wealth of experience to help the state tackle its challenges.
“I join other well-meaning Taraba people in celebrating the release of former Gov. Jolly Nyame.
“You will observe that the people of the state are in a happy mood since Thursday when the news came that he had been granted freedom,’’ he said.
Mrs Gladys Iliya, a politician said she and many people of the state were waiting to receive Nyame whenever he arrived in the state.
“We are eagerly waiting for the arrival of our worthy son, Nyame to the state so that we will show him that we still love him in spite of what has happened to him,’’ Iliya said.
Chief David Kente, the governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the entire state was happy at the freedom of the former governor.
