Former Governor of Plateau State and serving Senator, Joshua Dariye was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, but the religious sentiment which ousted him years ago, manifested again as he urged opposing counsel to have mercy on him because of his Christian faith.
Dariye, now representing Plateau Central Senatorial District, was accused of embezzling N1.162 billion ecological funds belonging to his State and using an account belonging to Ebenezer Reitner Ventures, a company he owns, to domicile the funds into Sun Trust Bank.
He was Plateau State Governor from 1999 to 2003, re-contested and won in the same year but was later impeached in 2006.
He went to Court to challenge his impeachment and it was usurped.
After the expiration of his tenure, in 2007, Dariye was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on a 21-count charge of diverting State funds to the tune of N1.16 billion.
He challenged the charges in Court, stating that he was supposed to be tried at a State High Court and not the Federal High Court in Abuja.
His intent to stop the trial saw him approaching the Appeal and Supreme Courts, both pleas failed.
His case was later stalled until 2015 when the Supreme Court ordered the resumption of his trial.
In 2016, Dariye who contested and won his Senatorial seat under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), decamped to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), in what many perceived as a move to avoid prosecution.
Playing religiosity at the Court
Before the presiding Judge, Adebukola Banjoko, delivered her judgment on Dariye, his Counsel, Paul Erokoro, pled with the Judge for a light sentence, as his client (Dariye) acted in ignorance.
“Appeals to your judgement do not succeed, we will fall on your mercy. The prisons are congested.
“They misled the Governor, it is the bank, they said he didn’t have to present anything.”
In disagreement, EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs said Senator Dariye does not deserve an easy judgment as he did not show remorse and his case should also serve as deterrence to others.
At this point, Dariye sought permission to speak, and he pleaded with the prosecution saying
“Be merciful. You are a Christian, your name is Jacob.”
But Banjoko dismissed Dariye’s plea, saying “there should not be compromise in corruption. Corruption is corruption.”
“I welled up while reading (the judgement) thinking of the victims; it is a litany of woes. They were adults making rational choices. More importantly, I think what touches me the most, your family, they are victims.
“Having found the defendant guilty of these counts of criminal breach of trust and criminal appropriation, the court sentences you to two years for criminal breach of trust and 14 years for criminal appropriation.”
A precedent
Dariye, who is known for chorusing his born-again Christian title while he was Governor of Plateau State, is known to appeal to religious and ethnic sentiments.
In 2004, it was reported that hundreds of Muslim were massacred in the small town of Yelwa in Southern Plateau State, which caused a reprisal attack in Kano.
Reacting to the incident, Dariye said demands of Jos Hausa community to be recognised as indigenes may be grounds for evicting them from the State altogether.
“They are here with us, we are in one State but that does not change the landlord/settler equation, no matter how much we cherish peace…
“Our problem here today is that the tenant is becoming very unruly. But the natural law here is simple: if your tenant is unruly, you serve him a quit notice. This unruly group must know that we are no longer willing to tolerate the rubbish they give us. The days of over tolerance are gone forever. All of us must accept this home truth.”
On some other ocassion, he said
“Even if I spend 150 years in Bukuru, I cannot become an indigene of Du. It is an Alqaeda agenda to bring down Plateau state… The ulama were chased out of Kaduna during the Babangida regime. If they were so good why were they sent out of Kaduna ? And they came to form their headquarters in Jos.”
His statement was perceived as inciting, and further escalated the already volatile tensions in the State. My. Dariye denied both statement saying he was misquoted, yet multiple sources confirmed that he did say them.
The aftermath of his speech, this and many others, made the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, declare a State of Emergency on Plateau State.
President Obasanjo also blamed Dariye for his vituperations on the crisis.
“As at today, there is nothing on ground and no evidence whatsoever to show that the State Governor has the interest, desire, commitment, credibility and capacity to promote reconciliation, rehabilitation, forgiveness, peace, harmony and stability.
“If anything, some of his utterances, his lackadaisical attitude and seeming uneven-handedness over the salient and contending issues present him as not just part of the problem, but also as an instigator and a threat to peace”
President Obasanjo was not alone as many blamed Dariye for the crisis in Plateau, according to Human Rights Watch.
