Senator representing Plateau Central, Joshua Dariye
The senator representing Plateau Central, Joshua Dariye, has
submitted his APC nomination form to contest for senator in 2019
election.
Mr Dariye is currently serving a 14-year jail term over financial misdeeds while serving as Plateau governor.
Chindo Dafat, APC Publicity Secretary in Plateau, told the News
Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Jos that Mr Dariye has filled the form
and submitted to the party.
“His (Dariye)’s ward secretary came and signed the form on his
behalf. It has been filled and his supporters are already campaigning
ahead of the party primary election,’’ he said.
According to him, Mr Dariye will battle with three others – Zakari Dimka, Sam Piwuna and Manji Pompori – for the APC ticket.
The party official said that Dariye was “still very popular and
relevant in Plateau Central in spite of his current ordeals’’, adding
that the former governor “can win the primary elections from the
prison’’.
He said that Dariye had appealed his conviction and could have it upturned “because we are praying for him’’.
“Aside possible success in the appeal, we are also praying for a state pardon. That is another possibility.
“Dariye is very important to our party, unfortunately, this
happened to him. It is not that we cannot win elections without him; we
can win without him, but he has done a lot and is well loved by his
people.
“Somebody could be in the hospital or prison and pick a
nomination from from there. We have no right to deny anyone a nomination
form. Even INEC cannot stop Dariye from contesting the 2019 elections.
“There is no law that stops him from buying the form. Whoever
comes for the nomination form can get it. I see it as a constitutional
matter. Only the court can disqualify him.
“If Dariye wins elections from prison, he will not be the first
Nigerian to do that. Iyiola Omisore, from Osun, once won a senate seat
while in prison,” Mr Dafat pointed out
But the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the development as “shocking, strange and embarrassing’’.
“It is shocking that a convict serving a 14-year jail term will
be given a nomination form to contest an election. This is just
ridiculous,” Ben Shignugul, PDP Vice Chairman (Plateau Central), told NAN.
“The nomination form has a portion which requests
aspirants to state whether they were once convicted; I wonder what
information Dariye provided in that column.
“He (Dariye) is our illustrious son and we sympathise with him.
We expect him to be sober and reflect on what has happened to him,
instead of allowing himself to be dragged around by desperate
politicians,” he said.
Mr Shignugul said that the Plateau PDP executive council, led by
its chairman, Damishi Sango, recently visited Dariye in Kuje prisons and
prayed for him.
“We still pray that he will serve out his 14-year jail term and come out in good health.
“Dariye should equally be praying, instead of attracting unnecessary attention to himself,’’ Shignugul said.
The PDP official, however, said that the party was not afraid of
facing Dariye, or any other APC candidate, in the 2019 general
elections.
“Dariye cannot be a threat to us because people in the zone are
already fed up with him after eight years as governor and two terms in
the senate,’’ Shignugul claimed.
But, section 107 sub-section 1 (d) of the Nigeria Constitution 1999
as amended, states that no person shall be qualified for election if,
within a period of less than 10 years before the date of election, he
has been convicted and sentenced for an offence involving dishonesty.
It also states that anyone that has been found guilty of
contravening the code of conduct shall not be allowed to contest
election.
-NAN