Former Governor of Plateau state, Chief Joshua Dariye, has said that the sum of N100 million from the misappropriated N1.126 billion went into the 2023 re-election campaign of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in 2007, had charged Dariye, who was governor from 1999 to 2007, over allegations of diverting N1.126 billion from the Plateau government’s ecological fund.
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In 2018, an Abuja High Court sentenced Dariye to 14 years imprisonment for fraud and money laundering.
The sentence was later reduced to 10 years on appeal.
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Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Newsnight on Monday, Dariye gave a breakdown of how the money was spent.
According to him, a larger part of the money went into the state government account, and only N80 million went to the ecological fund.
“N800 million went to the Plateau state account, 100 million went to PDP south-west and another 100 million went to the Obasanjo campaign organisation, N80 million went to the ecological fund and then N66 million went to PDP Plateau state,” he said.
“What was missing was about N4 million which is the commission of turnover.”
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He described his trial and subsequent prosecution as political witch hunt.
In April, President Muhammadu Buhari had pardoned Dariye and Jolly Nyame, former Taraba governor, on the grounds of age and ill health.