A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on Monday heard how
the Plateau State Ecological Fund was provided to fund the re-election
campaign of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.
A defence witness, Mr. Geoffrey Teme, made the disclosure during cross
examination by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN).
Teme, who was the Majority Leader in the Plateau House of Assembly from
2003 to 2006, said the information was provided by former Plateau State
Governor, Joshua Dariye, to the House Committee set up to investigate
the petition filed against the governor by the EFCC.
According to the defence witness, the then Deputy Senate President,
Ibrahim Mantu, invited all 24 members of the House to the National
Assembly in 2004.
“We were asked to pass a vote of no-confidence on Dariye. There was a
conflict as we did not see anything in the law for us to pass a vote of
no-confidence against him.
“His reason was that there was inefficiency on the part of the
governor”, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the witness as saying
to the court on Monday.
He also told the court that upon their arrival in the state, when they
were still deciding on what to do, the whole party structure was
dissolved.
“A state of emergency was declared and an interim government was formed”, he added.
Teme, who was charged along with Dariye and prosecuted in Lagos with other members of the House, was later discharged.