Nigerian ex-governors Nyame, Dariye released from prison despite stealing N2.7Billion

The Nigerian government has released former Governors of Plateau and Taraba states, Senator Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame respectively from prison.

The two ex-convicts were released less than four months after they were granted state pardon by the National Council of State (NCS). The two former governors were among 159 convicts pardoned by the NCS led by President Muhammadu Buhari in April 2022.

According to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), the former prisoners were documented at 11 am and they had since left the prison.

While Nyame was sentenced to 12 years in jail for diverting N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba, Dariye was sentenced to 10 years in prison for N1.126 billion fraud.

SaharaReporters had reported that the pardon granted to the former governors drew a lot of condemnation from Nigerians who claimed that Buhari’s government was encouraging corruption.

But the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, while justifying the clemency, said that it would have been insensitive for the president not to pardon the duo, saying that they had life-threatening illnesses.

However, the duo could not be released immediately by the correctional service because, according to the Public Relations Officer of NCoS, Abubakar Umar, the Ministry of Justice would send a correspondence stating so.

The paper quoted the Public Relations Officer of NCoS FCT Command, Humphrey Chukwuedo to have confirmed their release, adding that they left the correctional centre after documentation.