The 10-year jail term handed to former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye after being convicted for criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust, was on Friday March 12 affirmed by the Supreme Court.
Dariye who was convicted for reportedly looting N2billion public funds during his time as Plateau State governor between 1999 and 2007, had been elected as the senator representing Plateau Central in the Nigerian Senate in 2015. He was however sentenced in June 2018 but still completed his tenure as a senator from jail in June 2019.
A federal high court in Abuja had on June 12, 2018 convicted Mr Dariye and originally sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and two years’ jail term for criminal misappropriation.
But following his appeal against the judgment, the Court of Appeal in Abuja on November 16, 2018, commuted the 14 years’ jail term to 10. The former governor had further appealed to the Supreme Court.
The five-man panel of the Supremecourt headed by Mary Odili on Friday, however upheld the ex-governor’s conviction in respect of criminal breach of trust which attracted the 10-year jail term.
His conviction for criminal misappropriation was quashed, but it had no impact on his overall number of years of imprisonment as it attracted two years’ imprisonment.