The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said the conviction of ex-Governors Jolly Nyame (Taraba) and Joshua Dariye (Plateau) for corruption, confirmed that it was not selective in trial of suspects.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It explained that a former Accountant-General of Kebbi Mohammed Dakingari and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 70 years in prison
It explained that a chieftain of the APC, ex-Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu is still being prosecuted in court.
The anti-graft agency said it is apolitical and blind to the political colours and affiliations of crime suspects.
The EFCC, in a statement by its Head of Media and Publicity Wilson Uwujaren, said in Dariye’s case, one of the witnesses, Peter Clark , a former detective of the Metropolitan Police, came many times from Britain to give evidence only for proceedings to be frustrated with forced adjournments by Dariye’s lawyers
The statement said: “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 Economic and Financial Crimes 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, 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 utilized 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.
“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 defected 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.
“But rather than slow proceedings, his trial accelerated, forcing the defence to close its case, thus setting the stage for the judgment of June12.”
The EFCC cited other cases to prove that it is unbiased in investigation and trial of suspects.
The statement added: “Also, Mohammed Dakingari, former accountant general of Kebbi state and member of the APC was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 70 years in prison.
On Kalu, the EFCC said: the Commission had closed its case in that matter after calling many witnesses. But rather than open his defence, Kalu elected to file a ‘no case submission’. It will be up to the court to determine whether the Commission has presented enough evidence to warrant him to enter his defence.
