Political and religious leaders in Plateau State have reacted to Tuesday’s sentencing of the state’s former governor, Joshua Dariye.
A court in Abuja found Dariye guilty of corruption when he was governor between 1999 and 2007, and sentenced him to 14 years in prison with no option of fine.
He was found guilty of diverting N1.162 billion state ecological funds.
The ruling came about two weeks after former Gov. Jolly Nyame of Taraba was also handed a similar sentence for corruption.
Many Nigerians have hailed the sentences as a strong message to corrupt public office holders. But reactions from Plateau were mixed.
The Plateau state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Damishi Sango, told Premium Times yesterday that nobody should rejoice that the former governor has been jailed.
“For me, nobody should jubilate because Joshua Dariye is sent to prison, rather it is a time of tribulations for us all as Plateau people, we should pray with him, encourage him to be steadfast, and console with his family,” he said.
“Though he left PDP for APC, he is still a citizen of Plateau state who has contributed to the development of Plateau state; but his prosecution should serve as a lesson to others who are governing us now.”
The state chairman Action Democratic Party, ADP, Nanyah Daman, told the medium in a telephone interview that the court did the right thing.
“Our position (ADP) is that the law has done what is right, because the jail term was pronounced by a court of competent jurisdiction. Remember, the case between Dariye and EFCC has lingered for 11 years, so nobody can dispute what the court has done, what is right is right, and what is wrong is wrong, no matter who is doing it.”
On his part, the state publicity secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Chindo Dafat, appealed for calm from those aggrieved by the judgement.
“Mine is an appeal to his (Dariye) supporters, particularly those who are looking up to him in the political arena, to remain calm, as the imprisonment is part of life, may be God destined him to be in prison to accomplish his purpose,” he said.
“As a member of the ruling APC, we will miss him because he is a party man with a lot of wisdom and a great financial contributor to the development of our party, though we (APC) do not support corruption.”
