ABUJA – Former Military Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, has urged Alhaji Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to effect the release of former Governors Joshua Dariye and Tanko Nyame.
The former Governors of Plateau and Taraba States respectively were granted state pardon by President in April this year.
The full statement by Col Umar reads:
When in an interview with the Daily Sun in December of 2021, I pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to grant state pardon to convicted former Governors Josua Dariye and Rev. Jolly Nyame, I didn’t mean to excuse their fraud offence nor to undermine the much needed war against corruption in Nigeria. Rather, it was a call for a more vigorous war waged with equity and fairness.
Both Governors Dariye and Jolly Nyame were convicted of criminal breach of trust in which they embezzled N1.16 billion and N1.6billion respectively. Their conviction by a Federal High Court in 2018 followed due judicial process as affirmed by the Supreme Court. Both spent two years in detention while their trial lasted. They have now served a further four years after their conviction, making cumulative six years of a ten year sentence.
It is remarkable that the two are so far the only former Governors who have been convicted and have remained in jail even though their colleague Governors have similarly been accused or facing prosecution. A few were actually found guilty and jailed – but still managed to remain free!
It is difficult to tell what part my appeal had played in the decision of the National Council of State led by President Muhammadu Buhari to magnanimously grant state pardon to Governors Dariye and Nyame along with 159 other convicts. It has to be said however that their pardon was greeted with public dissent and protests. Many considered the decision to pardon them as evidence yet of the lack of seriousness in the government’s war against corruption.
Regrettably, the public’s antagonism might well have intimidated the government resulting in the Justice Ministry’s hesitancy in issuing their release warrant to the Ministry of Interior and the National Correctional Service. And so Governors Dariye and Nyame have remained in prison three months after being granted state pardon.
One expected that in the interest of justice and fairness, critics would demand for the resumption and conclusion of the cases of other former Governors. They should interrogate the seeming selective nature of the anti-corruption war which targeted the two Governors while their colleagues walk free. They should also take account of the fact that their pardon is coming less than two years to the end of their mandatory ten year sentence.
At a time when most Nigerians are calling for equity in every aspect of our national life, Governors Dariye and Nyame do not deserve to be singled out but treated like every body else.
Besides, I am sure the President will remain steadfast in implementing a decision approved by the National Council of State even if it might seem somewhat unpopular with a section of the public.
The Attorney General should, in obedience to the directive of the President, transmit the warrant to the agencies responsible for the release of Governors Josua Dariye and Jolly Nyame without any further delay.
