On grant of pardon by President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has again demonstrated good leadership stride when he granted pardon to Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau State, and Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba State. At a council of state meeting presided over by the president at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday 14th April 2022, the former governors were […]
President Muhammadu Buhari has again demonstrated good leadership stride when he granted pardon to Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau State, and Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba State.
At a council of state meeting presided over by the president at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday 14th April 2022, the former governors were among 159 inmates pardoned.
They were granted pardons on the grounds of age and ill health. Another beneficiary of the pardon is Tajudeen Olanrewaju, former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime.
In 2018, 66-year-old Nyame, who was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for diverting public funds, was convicted and jailed for 14 years, after a trial that lasted 11 years.
The EFCC had accused him of diverting N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba between 1999 and 2007. His sentence was later reduced to 12 years by the Supreme Court in February 2020.
Dariye, 64, who was a governor between 1999 and 2007, and a former Senator representing Plateau Central district, was also sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2018 for N1.126bn fraud. But a court of appeal reduced his term by four years. The verdict was also affirmed by the Supreme Court.
However, the council rejected a request for pardon for Francis Atuche, former managing director of Bank PHB, who was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for fraud.
I am comfortably at home with the Council’s standpoint on the rejection of Mr. Atuche’s request for the pardon considering the no “health or age” reasons given, the amount involved and the likelihood of setting a bad precedent in respect of the private sector corruption in the country.
While it is the statutory duty of the president or the committee he constituted to grant pardon and ensure decongestion of custodial centres, care should be taken in discharging this solemn statutory duty against the backdrop of rising incidents of insecurity and concerns by the public that criminals are released into the society during prison decongestion exercises, and immediately they get outside, commit the same offence and are re-arrested.
Therefore, those people with the orientation of perpetually living in crime should not be released to cause harm to the Nigerian society.
Ibrahim Ahmad Kala (LL.M) is the Head of Litigation Department, Court of Appeal Gombe Division