April 15, (THEWILL) – The National Council of State has granted state pardon to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba States respectively, who are serving terms in jail for corruption.
The governors were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the Council at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.
Among the beneficiaries are a former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, an army lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide of former deputy to General Abacha, Oladipo Diya; and all the junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup.
The Council of State, an organ responsible for advising the executive arm of government on major policy decisions, endorsed the granting of clemency, pardon and prerogative of mercy to 159 out of 162 applications presented to it for consideration.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, made this known when he addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Council’s meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Malami said the recommendation came after the council received the report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.
According to the Minister, “In the exercise of the powers on the granting of pardon, precisely on the 28th day of August 2018, the President put in place a committee known as the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy, which was saddled with the responsibility of visiting the country’s correctional facilities and making recommendations to the President on the exercise of his power of mercy and compassion, by way of either granting pardon to those that have been convicted, clemency, or some other form of concessions by way of reduction in sentence and term.
“It was in exercising such duties and responsibilities in line with the terms of the Committee on Prerogative of Mercy that we presented the report to the President and the requirement of the law on the exercise of that mercy and pardon, should seek the advice of the Council of State.
“In line with that, a memo was presented by the president this afternoon to the council through which the report of the Committee was presented to council for its advice. The Committee made a submission of 162 people presented to the President for such consideration.
“26 of the inmates are recommended for presidential pardon, 85 of surviving ex-convicts, were recommended for presidential pardon, one deceased person was recommended for post humours presidential pardon, 27 inmates were recommended for presidential clemency, 13 inmates were recommended for a review of their sentences or prison terms, 10 inmates were presented for a reduced sentence from death to life imprisonment. In total, 162 convicts were presented for the President’s consideration for pardon and mercy.”
Malami said the Council of State endorsed 159 out of the 162 convicts and advised the President to grant them pardon and mercy, but rejected three of the recommended convicts.
“The Council rejected a proposal to grant pardon to one of the prisoners sentenced to 120 years for stealing over N25 billion. The reason for seeking pardon was because of a life threatening illness.
“The second person was convicted for forgery, sentenced for 14 years and has stayed in prison for a year and six months.
“The third person was obtaining money by false pretence and was sentenced for seven years”, he explained.
Confirming Dariye’s pardon, the Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjang, said the ex-governor had been given a second chance.
He added “Every Plateau man is happy about it and we give kudos to the President for honouring us in this manner. We want to also thank whoever that has a hand in making it happen because everybody makes mistakes and you can make errors while in governance.
“As of today, he (Dariye), has been given a reprieve as if nothing has happened and that is the spirit we have to imbibe as a people that when we make mistakes, we have to forgive because nobody is above error “
The Director of Press and Public Affairs, Government House, Dr Macham Makut, also confirmed that Governor Simon Lalong was at the council of State meeting where Dariye was granted state pardon.
The Speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, Prof. Joseph Kunini, also hailed Nyame’s pardon in a statement on Thursday.
The Spokesman for Dariye, Christopher John, confirmed the pardon of both Dariye and Nyame.
John said the pardon of the ex-governors had nothing to do with the fact that they were members of the All Progressives Congress.
He claimed that both men were unfairly convicted, adding that their pardon was a form of vindication.
Dariye’s aide added, “We are so excited about this. We’ve been expecting for a long time and fortunately it has come at this time. We thank God and the government for granting him this pardon. The Nigerian system has made many court judgements unreliable. You can be roped into things you know nothing about.
“I believe that it is the will of God for him to be released. I don’t trust the Nigerian court system. Jolly Nyame was also released and we thank God. It has nothing to do with them being in the APC. It was even the PDP that charged them to court. The APC was not in power when this thing started. We know the genesis.
Dariye and Nyame were convicted by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in 2018. Dariye, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, was jailed for laundering public funds to the tune of N1.162bn and was sentenced to 14 years in prison by Justice Banjoko who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Dariye’s prison term was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, while his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
For Rev Nyame, who was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stealing N1.6bn from the state’s treasury, a judgement which was also upheld by the Supreme Court.
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