by Emmanuel Kaboshio-Bagudu
The white handkerchief, probably deployed to serve the purpose, moves obstreperously on the face of the docked man. The judgment lasted for hours, and for most of that time, he chose to hide his face, perhaps to hold back emotion. All of it spilled loose in seconds.
That piece of fabric could only offer short-term relief from the reality that had just crashed down on then 60-year-old Joshua Dariye, former governor of Plateau State. Two truths were now unavoidable: he would no longer serve as Senator, and more painfully, he would spend the next 12 years in prison. That was June 2018.
Barely 42 days earlier, his contemporary suffered the same fate. Two-term Taraba Governor Jolly Nyame – born on Christmas Day, raised in Christendom, ordained a Reverend – could not escape the temptation to steal from the state treasury despite his faith and political experience.
“…I am morally outraged by the facts of this case; the people of Taraba State elected the defendant, a clergyman, on three different occasions; their expectations must have been very high. How would he explain such a colossal loss to the people?” Justice Adebukola Banjoko asked in her concluding statement.
Convicted, Jailed, Then Pardoned
The EFCC’s convictions of Nyame and Dariye were hailed as landmark wins in Nigeria’s anti-graft war. They remain the only state governors in Nigeria’s history jailed for stealing public funds. Nyame got 12 years for N1.64bn. Dariye got 10 years for N1.126bn in ecological funds.
But in April 2022, both men received a presidential pardon and walked free. Their release sparked national outrage, because the money they stole never returned, and the damage they caused never healed.
As 2027 general elections approach, their story is not just history. It’s a voter’s guide.
What Taraba Lost: Nyame’s N1.64bn
Nyame was convicted on 27 of 41 counts for criminal breach of trust and misappropriation. Justice Banjoko ruled he violated his oath to serve Taraba faithfully and abide by the 1999 Constitution’s Code of Conduct. She faulted his links to Salman Global Ventures Ltd, which received N340m in 5 months, and slammed the N100m spent in one day to host the President in 2007: “This is just one in the catalogue of crimes he committed.” Of Nyame’s rule, she said: “Crazy level of corruption… the defendant behaved like a common thief.”
What could N1.64bn have done for Taraba?
1. Education: At N10m per block of 2 classrooms with VIP toilets, Taraba could have built 164 blocks = 9,840 new seats. With 650,000+ out-of-school children, that’s 10,000 pupils housed comfortably.
2. Local Government Survival: Bali LGA, the state’s largest, received ~N1.64bn yearly from FAAC for 18 years. Nyame stole what Bali’s farmers and workers survived on annually. Yorro LGA, the smallest, gets ~N1bn yearly – less than Nyame’s total loot.
3. Budgets: Nyame’s N1.64bn exceeds the 2019 combined allocation for Taraba’s Primary Health Care Agency, Community Development Project, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Education.
What Plateau Lost: Dariye’s N1.126bn Ecological Funds
Dariye was convicted on 15 of 23 counts for diverting N1.126bn meant for flood control and land reclamation on the Jos Plateau. Justice Banjoko called it “brazen systemic looting” and noted Dariye “was at a point richer than his state.” Funds from Plateau Water Board also vanished, leaving communities like Janta Adamu, Gura-Top Bukuru, Riyom, and Pankshin without portable water.
The cost: In 2017 alone, SEMA reported floods killed 10 people, displaced 7,342 from 832 villages, and destroyed 1,153 houses worth N54.2m. All because channelization never happened.
What N1.126bn could have done for Plateau:
1. Flood Control: 889km of drainage at N1.8m per km. That protects Jos, Bukuru, and flood-prone towns.
2. Water: 1,069 automatic boreholes at N1.5m each = 67 per LGA. Or 2,667 manual boreholes at N600k each.
3. Health + Water: Dariye’s loot is more than Plateau’s 2017 combined recurrent budget for the Ministry of Health and Water Board. One man’s theft = one year of healthcare + water for the entire state.
2027: Your Vote Is the Only Firewall Left
The convictions proved prison is possible. The pardons proved it’s not final. No court order has returned N2.7bn to Taraba and Plateau. No pardon rebuilds a classroom or refills a borehole.
CSOs Warn
“Any governor who sabotages Education, Health, Agriculture and Infrastructure must face the law,” says Monday Osasah of the Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development. On his part, Hamzaat Lawal, founder of Connected Development, a citizen engagement group, wants the jail terms to be elongated while describing the ex-governors’ offences as grievous.
He said, “a lot of people have lost their lives, lost their potentials, women died, the court would have given a more capital punishment….”
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