A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, has sentenced the former governor of Plateau State, Mr. Joshua Dariye to 14 years in prison after being convicted for corruption.
Mr Dariye was found guilty of diverting N1.162 billion state ecological funds while he was governor between 1999 and 2007.
He was first arraigned on a 23-count charge for the offence in 2007.
Justice Adebukola Banjoko sentenced Dariye to two years in prison for criminal breach of trust and 14 years for criminal misappropriation of funds.
The sentences are to run concurrently. The court gave no option of fine.
Dariye is currently the Senator representing Plateau West in the National Assembly.
During the sentencing, the court ruled that all charges are to run concurrently without any option of fine.
Dariye is also found guilty bothering on criminal breach of trust, dishonesty, and diversion of funds meant for the ecological needs of Plateau state.
Dariye whose case is over 10 years was standing trial on a 23 count charge for money laundering allegedly diverting the State’s N1.126 billion ecological funds.
He was arraigned by the EFCC on July 13, 2007, bordering on money laundering and other corruption charges alleged to have belonged to the Plateau State government.
According to the EFCC, the former governor diverted the funds into the account of Ebenezer Ratnen Venture, which is alleged to be one of the companies through which he allegedly siphoned the public funds.
Before being sentenced, the judge had given the lawyers the opportunity to speak for their clients. Dariye’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro, asked the court to consider the fact that his client “was ignorant of the offence” at the time it was committed.
Erokoro said Dariye was a victim of “the long years of military administration and should be viewed as a victim because he was ignorant of financial fraud and most of their components.”
Erokoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), claimed his client, who is a chartered accountant, was ignorant of the offence.
But the EFC counsel, Jacobs drew the attention of the court to the many years of legal battle embarked upon by the defendant.
As he was speaking, Dariye suddenly stood up and asked the prosecution lawyer to be merciful.
“Be merciful. You are a Christian, your name is Jacob,” Dariye pleaded.