Hunted by EFCC, ex-Gov Joshua Dariye dumps PDP for APC

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator, Joshua Dariye has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A letter by Dariye, a former governor of Plateau State was read on the floor of the Senate at the end of its plenary on Thursday by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

The Senator had in 2011 defected to Labour Party, where he contested the senatorial election, he returned to PDP in 2014, explaining that he was a founding member of the party.

This time, he claimed he was abandoning the PDP again because of “the protracted division at the national level of the PDP that led to the massive movement of my supporters to the APC”.

Already, there are speculations that Dariye’s defection to the ruling APC, is hinged on his hope to get a soft landing in his ongoing trial with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Read also: Ngilari, Adamawa ex-gov charged and remanded in EFCC custody

EFCC has been accused by many Nigerians of only prosecuting those in the opposition party. There are also claims in some quarters that alleged corrupt politicians formerly in PDP but now in APC are considered as sacred cows by the EFCC.

Recall that EFCC had on June 6, presented its tenth witness before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court, Gudu, Abuja, to testify against Dariye on charges bordering on money laundering and diversion of N1.16 billion Plateau State’s ecological fund.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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