EFCC says the conviction of two prominent members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye
in quick succession by a Federal Capital Territory High Court has put a
lie to the often repeated charge by critics and cynics that the
commission is lukewarm in prosecuting chieftains of the ruling party for
corruption.
Nyame and Dariye, both former two-term governors of Taraba and
Plateau State respectively, were convicted and sentenced to 14 years in
prison on corruption charges.
Nyame was convicted for criminal misappropriation, diversion of
public funds, and breach of public trust; and Dariye, criminal breach of
trust and misappropriation of public funds. In the course of Nyame’s
trial, the prosecution called 14 witnesses and presented documentary
evidence, which among other things revealed that the N250 million was
shared and never utilised for the purpose for which it was approved. A
total of N180 million was diverted to the bank account of Salman Global
Ventures Limited, which provided no services for the state.
On his part, Dariye diverted about N1.16 billion Ecological Fund
meant for the state, to his personal use, including transferring monies
to Ebenezer Retnan Ventures (an unregistered company managed by him) and
Pinnacle Communications Limited. In proving its case against
Dariye, EFCC called 10 witnesses, including Peter Clark, a detective
constable with the UK Metropolitan Police in London, who investigated
Dariye in the UK for money laundering offence.
Both trials had been ongoing for 11 years and towards the end of the
proceedings, the two convicts changed their political camps, moving from
the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling
APC. Dariye who won election into the senate on the platform of the PDP
decamped to the ruling APC, at a critical phase of his trial, when the
prosecution had called all its vital witnesses and conviction appeared
imminent. Not surprisingly, this fueled speculation that the gambit was a
calculated move to stave off imminent conviction.