Ex-Gov Dariye now to spend 10yrs in prison, instead of 14 -Appeal Court rules

An Appeal court sitting in Abuja has reduced the jail term of former governor Joshua Dariye of Plateau State from fourteen years to ten years on the ground that he was a first time offender.

Justice Olubukola Banjoko of the Federal High Court in Abuja in June this year sentenced the former governor to fourteen years after being found guilty of misappropriating N1.16bn ecological funds belonging to Plateau State.

The Appeal Court on Friday ruled that the maximum sentence of fourteen years on the appellant was excessive because he was a first time offender.

According to the court, the sentence was handed down in the season of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which does not allow maximum sentence for first time offenders.

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Dariye was sentenced to two years imprisonment on each of the five counts bordering on criminal misappropriation and 14 years jail term on each of the 11 counts of criminal breach of trust.

The court ruled that all the sentences would run concurrently, implying that the convict would have to spend 14 years in jail.

Dariye had defected from the PDP to the APC in September 2016 after being trailed by the EFCC.

From the prison, he obtained the nomination form of his new party to contest for Plateau Central senatorial district in the 2019 elections.

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