Former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye on Friday had his 10-year jail term for criminal breach of trust upheld by the Supreme Court.
A five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Mary Odili, in a unanimous judgment, also granted Daruiye’s appeal in part, by annulling the one-year sentence imposed on him by the Court of Appeal in relation to the offence of criminal misappropriation.
Justice Ejembi Eko prepared the lead judgment,which was read on Friday by Justice Helen Ogunwumiju. Other members of the panel include Lawal Garba, Samuel Oseji and Tijani Abubakar.
The Supreme Court said: “The concurrent conviction of the appellant on the offence of criminal breach of trust, punishable under section 315 of the Penal Code is hereby affirmed…all other conviction of the appellant in respect of the offence of criminal misappropriation, are hereby quashed. Appeal succeeds in part.”
Dariye had, in his appeal, prayed the Supreme Court to upturn the November 16, 2018 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which convicted him and sentenced him to 10 years for diverting public funds estimated at N1.162billion while he was the governor.
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Stephen Adah, in its decision, upheld an earlier judgement by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), delivered on June 12, 2018.
The trial court convicted Dariye on 15 counts relating to the offences of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation, contained in the 23-count charge on which he was tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
