Plateau Govt Reacts As Ex-Governor, Joshua Dariye Gets Presidential Pardon

A former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye, has been granted a presidential pardon.

Naija News reports that the former governor, who was jailed in 2018 for stealing N1.16bn while in office, was pardoned by the Council of State on Thursday.

Dariye, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, was jailed for laundering public funds and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The former governor’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.

The council headed by President Muhammadu Buhari also granted pardons to other 158 convicts including a former Taraba governor, Jolly Nyame.

Reacting to Dariye’s pardon, Plateau State Government commended the council and the President for giving the former governor a second chance.

In a chat with The Punch, the Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjang, said the state government is happy with the development.

He, however, revealed that Governor Simon Lalong was at the council of State meeting where Dariye was granted a state pardon.

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 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 “