CASE NUMBER 10916:

EX GOVERNOR, DARIYE REMANDED IN PRISON

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Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Joshua Dariye

Location (Town / State)

Abuja, Abuja

Date of Event

12 Mar 2021

Date of republication

12 March every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of former Plateau State Governor, Senator Joshua Dariye, on criminal breach of trust and his subsequent sentencing to 14 years imprisonment for diverting public funds estimated at N1.162billion.Supreme Court on 12th march affirmed the ten-year jail term slammed on the former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye’s for alleged criminal breach of trust.
The judgment delivered by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, read the decision of the apex court which affirmed the conviction on the charges of criminal breach of trust which carries a 10-year Jail term. However, the Supreme Court quashed the charges which border on misappropriation of funds which carry a two-year Jail term.

The former governor (Dariye) was said to have looted N2billion public funds during his time as Plateau State governor, between 1999 and 2007. He was elected as the senator representing Plateau Central in the Nigerian Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018 but still c

Full story

Supreme Court on 12th march affirmed the ten-year jail term slammed on the former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye’s for alleged criminal breach of trust.
The judgment delivered by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, read the decision of the apex court which affirmed the conviction on the charges of criminal breach of trust which carries a 10-year Jail term. However, the Supreme Court quashed the charges which border on misappropriation of funds which carry a two-year Jail term.

The former governor (Dariye) was said to have looted N2billion public funds during his time as Plateau State governor, between 1999 and 2007. He was elected as the senator representing Plateau Central in the Nigerian Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018 but still completed his tenure as a senator from jail in June 2019. He led a partly successful appeal at the Supreme Court with a five-man panel of the court headed by Mary Odili, quashing his conviction in respect of criminal misappropriation in a unanimous decision handed down Friday.

Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja had on June 12, 2018 convicted Mr Dariye and originally sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and two years’ jail term for criminal misappropriation. The former governor had in his appeal, prayed the Supreme Court to upturn the November 16, 2018 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which convicted him and sentenced him to 10 years for diverting public funds estimated at N1.162billion while he was the Governor. This came after the court of appeal affirmed his conviction, it held that section section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, prohibited the imposition of maximum sentence on a first offender, such as the convict.

The trial court convicted the former governor on 15 counts relating to the offences of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation, contained in the 23-count charge on which he was tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In upholding his conviction, the Court of Appeal noted that the prosecution, led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) effectively proved its allegation of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation against the ex-governor.

The Appeal Court however faulted the trial court for convicting Dariye on counts 12 and 23, which it said the prosecution did not prove. It also faulted the trial court for imposing the maximum sentences on both offences of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation and proceeded to reduce the 14 years sentence for the offence of criminal breach of trust to 10 years and reduced the two years sentence for criminal misappropriation to one year.

Arguing the appeal before the Supreme Court on December 17 last year, Dariye’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), asked the court to either reverse his client’s conviction or reduce the 10-year jail term handed him by the Court of Appeal. He argued that the former governor’s conviction was speculative and urged the Court to show mercy on him. Agabi said, “Here is a man sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. 10 years is more than a lifetime for some people. You should show him mercy.” He however added that, should the Court be minded to disallow the appeal and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal, it should reduce the sentence substantially.

Lawyer to the respondent, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) countered and urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the concurrent findings of the two lower courts. Jacobs contended that a public servant was not better than the common man in the eyes of the law. He added: “As for the sentence passed, it has been reduced to 10 years. That he (the appellant) is a public servant does not mean he should go free.”

The five-man panel of the apex court, while delivering the judgment in the appeal filed by the former governor against his conviction and sentencing by both a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Court of Appeal, Abuja, the Supreme Court held that both the lower and trial courts were right in their findings on the criminal breach of trust filed against the ex-governor under section 3115 of the Penal Code.

External links/URLs

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/448391-supreme-court-affirms-10-year-jail-for-ex-governor-who-looted-n2billion.html
https://punchng.com/breaking-supreme-court-upholds-ex-plateau-gov-dariyes-10-year-jail-term/

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