Buhari Pardons Ex-Governors Nyame, Dariye, 157 Others
The National Council of State, on Thursday, granted a state pardon to former Governors Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye of Taraba and Plateau states respectively, who are serving jail terms for corruption.
The duo were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the Council at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.
The full list of those pardoned is not immediately available.
Sources said the two former governors were pardoned on health and age grounds.
Nyame, 66, was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, and was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje Custodial Centre for misappropriation of funds while he was in office. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in February 2020.
While Dariye, 64, who governed Plateau between 1999 and 2007, was jailed for stealing N2 billion of public funds during his time as Plateau State governor between 1999 and 2007
Before his trial could be concluded, Daniel was elected as Senator representing Plateau Central in the Senate in 2015.
Eventually, he was sentenced in June 2018 but his seat was not declared vacant until the expiration of his tenure in 2019.
The meeting of the Council of State presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers was attended by former presidents and military heads of state, except former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is in the United States on medical vacation.
The Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian Government as stipulated by Third Schedule Part 1B of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The membership of the Council includes the President, who is Chairman; the Vice-President, who is Deputy Chairman; all former Presidents of the Federation and all former Heads of the Government of the Federation; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; the President of the Senate; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; all the Governors of the states of the Federation; and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
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