Supreme Court finally seals Dariye's fate, says ex-governor must spend 10 years in prison
- The appeal filed by the former governor of Plateau state, Joshua Dariye, over his conviction has been struck out
- Supreme Court on Friday, March 12, ruled that Dariye must serve his 10 years jail term
- Dariye had approached the apex court to upturn the judgement of the Court of Appeal that sentence him
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The Supreme Court has upheld the 10-year imprisonment imposed on the former governor of Plateau state, Joshua Dariye, upon his conviction on the offence of criminal breach of trust.
The Nation reports that a five-man panel led by Justice Mary Odili in a unanimous judgment on Friday, March 12, upheld Daruiye’s appeal in part.
Legit.ng gathered that the apex court, however, quashed the one-year sentence imposed on the ex-governor by the Court of Appeal in relations to the offence of criminal misappropriation.
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The report noted that Justice Ejembi Eko prepared the lead judgment, which was read by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, adding that other members of the panel include Lawal Garba, Samuel Oseji and Tijani Abubakar.
The Supreme Court upheld Dariye’s concurrent conviction and sentence by the trial court and the Court of Appeal on the offence of criminal breach of trust is upheld.
Dariye 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.
The newspaper also noted that a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Stephen Adah, in its decision, upheld an earlier judgement by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), delivered on June 12, 2018.
The trial court convicted Dariye 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 Dariye’s conviction, the Court of Appeal noted the prosecution, led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) effectively proved its allegation of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation against the ex-governor.
According to Premium Times, Dariye was said to have looted N2billion public funds during his time as Plateau state governor, between 1999 and 2007.
The former governor was elected in 2015 to represent the people of the Plateau Central in the Nigerian Senate.
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The Appeal Court 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.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the delivery of judgement in Dariye's appeal was slated for March 12, 2021, by the Supreme Court.
It was reported that the date was fixed on Thursday, December 17, after the apex court heard final arguments from lawyers representing both sides.
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Wale Akinola is a passionate journalist and researcher. He works as a senior political/current affairs editor at Legit.ng. He holds both B.A and Master’s degree in Communications and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan. He also holds a Diploma Certificate in Peace Journalism. He has over 15 years of work experience in both print and online media. He derives joy in keeping the public abreast of current happenings locally and internationally through his writings.
Source: Legit.ng
