Former military Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to remain steadfast in implementing the state pardon granted former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame being a decision approved by the National Council of State.
Umar also said that the Attorney General should, in obedience to the directive of the President, transmit the warrant to the agencies responsible for the release of Dariye and Nyame without any further delay.
He said the implementation of the approval of the National Council of State has become necessary even if it might seem somewhat unpopular with a section of the public.
The former military Governor stressed that at a time when most Nigerians are calling for equity in every aspect of our national life, Governors Dariye and Nyame do not deserve to be singled out but should treated like everybody else.
Umar further said that it is remarkable that the two are so far the only former Governors who have been convicted and have remained in jail even though their colleague Governors have similarly been accused or facing prosecution.
He noted that a few of the former governors were actually found guilty and jailed but, still managed to remain free!
This was as Umar said that he expected that in the interest of justice and fairness, critics would demand for the resumption and conclusion of the cases of other former Governors.
He specifically urged citizens to interrogate the seeming selective nature of the anti-corruption war which targeted Dariye and Nyame while their colleagues walk free, adding that critics should also take account of the fact that the pardon of the two former governors is coming less than two years to the end of their mandatory ten year sentence.
According to him; “When in an interview with the Daily Sun in December of 2021, I pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to grant state pardon to convicted former Governors Josua Dariye and Rev. Jolly Nyame, I didn’t mean to excuse their fraud offence nor to undermine the much needed war against corruption in Nigeria.
“Rather, it was a call for a more vigorous war waged with equity and fairness. Both Governors Dariye and Jolly Nyame were convicted of criminal breach of trust in which they embezzled N1.16 billion and N1.6billion respectively.
“Their conviction by a Federal High Court in 2018 followed due judicial process as affirmed by the Supreme Court. Both spent two years in detention while their trial lasted.
“They have now served a further four years after their conviction, making cumulative six years of a ten year sentence.
“It is difficult to tell what part my appeal had played in the decision of the National Council of State led by President Muhammadu Buhari to magnanimously grant state pardon to Governors Dariye and Nyame along with 159 other convicts.
“It has to be said however that their pardon was greeted with public dissent and protests. Many considered the decision to pardon them as evidence yet of the lack of seriousness in the government’s war against corruption.
“Regrettably, the public’s antagonism might well have intimidated the government resulting in the Justice Ministry’s hesitancy in issuing their release warrant to the Ministry of Interior and the National Correctional Service,” Umar said.
He noted that former Governors Dariye and Nyame have remained in prison three months after being granted state pardon.
