A former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, who is currently serving jail term for corruption, on Thursday, pleaded with the Supreme Court to set aside his conviction or, alternatively, reduce the 10 years’ imprisonment.
Dariye made this plea through his lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), during the hearing of his appeal against his conviction and sentence by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s prosecuting counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm both the conviction and the sentence.
Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja had on June 12, 2018 convicted Dariye and originally sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust concerning his handling of the state’s funds running into N2bn.
But following his appeal against the judgment, the Court of Appeal in Abuja on November 16, 2018, commuted the 14 years jail term to 10.
While the Court of Appeal affirmed the guilt of the former governor, it ruled that section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, prohibited the imposition of maximum sentence on a first offender such as the convict.
Dissatisfied with both the conviction and the reduced sentence, the former governor further appealed to the Supreme Court.
A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Odili heard the appeal on Thursday.
Pleading on behalf of the former governor at Thursday’s hearing, Agabi urged the apex court to “allow this appeal and set aside the conviction of the appellant.”
He argued that the conviction of his client was speculative.
But as his alternative prayer to setting aside the conviction, Agabi urged the court to show mercy to his client by further reducing the 10 years passed by the Court of Appeal should the conviction be affirmed.
He said, “Here is a man sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Ten years is more than a lifetime for some people; you should show mercy. Reduce the sentence substantially, I beg you.”
But the respondent’s lawyer, Jacobs, urged the court “to dismiss this appeal and uphold the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.”
He maintained that the sentence which was already reduced from 14 years to 10 years should not be further reduced.
He said, “As for the sentence passed, it has been reduced to 10 years. That he is a public servant does not mean he should go free.”
The court fixed March 12 for judgment. – Punch.
