Court of Appeal reduces jail terms for former Governors Nyame, Dariye

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reduced the jail term of the former governor of Taraba State, Reverend Jolly Nyame from 14 years to 12 years.
Also the Court of Appeal reduced the jail term of the former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye from 14 years to 10 years.
The court, on Friday, held that the maximum sentence of 14 years for the counts was excessive especially because the appellant is a first-time offender
Nyame was however fined the sum of N495million.
The lead judgment on Friday held that the lower court erred when it took it upon itself not to impose fine as such in counts 1, 2 and 6 that have to do with criminal breach of trust.
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja had earlier this year sentenced the former to 14 years imprisonment after being convicted of misappropriating N1.64 billion from the state’s treasury through shoddy stationery contracts which he awarded at the tail of his eight years administration in 2007.
In Dariye’s case, Justice Stephen Adah who read the unanimous judgment of the three-man panel also quashed the sentence in count 12.
According to the panel, the lower court which had earlier found Dariye not guilty for the charge should not have sentenced him on the charge.
The court also quashed count 23 because the persecution did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the former governor diverted the funds of the state to purchase a house in London.
The court, therefore, reduced the sentences to 10 years for each count which is to run concurrently.
It would be recalled that High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Gudu, Abuja, presided by Justice Adebukola Banjoko on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, sentenced former governor Joshua Dariye who was a serving senator to 14 years’ imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and criminal appropriation of the state’s funds running to over N2billion.
With reports by www.channelstv.com