It seems nemesis is catching up with corruption elected officials, bare few days after the former governor Jolly Nyame of Taraba State was jailed, the court yesterday also convicted the former Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye who bagged 14 years for fraud.
The court found the former governor guilty of criminal breach of trust and sentenced him to 14 years jail term while handing him another two years on each of the count relating to criminal misappropriation.
Dariye was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 23-count criminal charge of diversion of an ecological fund meant for Plateau State.
According to the EFCC, the former governor diverted the funds into the account of Ebenezer Retina Venture, which was alleged to be one of the companies through which he allegedly siphoned public funds.
The court in the judgment held that Dariye as a public servant entrusted with and having dominion over N1.1 billion ecological funds for Plateau State, was guilty with the manner the cheque was cleared and disbursed contrary to the real intent of the fund.
In her judgment, Tuesday, Justice Adebukola Banjoko found Dariye guilty on 15 of the 23-count charge and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment. The judge, in addition, found Dariye guilty of causing his state a loss of over N600 million out of the N1.6 billion ecological fund.
Senator Dariye was first elected governor of the state in 1999 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was re-elected in 2003, but later impeached by the state House of Assembly in November 2006.
He was elected a senator and re-elected in 2015 but defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2016. Following judgments of the Appeal and Supreme Courts nullifying his impeachment, however, Dariye was ordered to complete his tenure in 2007.
At the expiration of his tenure in May 2007, the EFCC arraigned him on a 21-count.
