Omokri says Dariye, Nyame convictions not President's achievement

Omokri, who is a constant critic of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the recent convictions of ex-governors Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye is an achievement of the Goodluck Jonathan and late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's governments.

He said it is unfortunate that the EFCC chaired by Ibrahim Magu is owning the feats and portraying it as results of the anti-corruption war of the present administration.

In a statement issued on Thursday, June 14, Omokri said Dariye and Nyame were imprisoned, charged and prosecuted by Jonathan and Yar’adua's governments.

Nyame was sentenced to 14 years in jail for diverting N1.64 billion as governor of Taraba while Dariye was jailed for 16 years for diverting N1.126 billion from Plateau state’s ecological funds.

Omokri said the Buhari administration is trying to "reap where it did not sow".

"My attention has been drawn to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission claiming that the recent convictions of former Governors Jolly Nyame and Joshua Dariye, has vindicated them from the oft repeated accusation that the EFCC, under Buhari, is lukewarm in prosecuting chieftains of the ruling All Progressive Congress, for corruption", the statement said.

"Nothing could be further from the truth and the statement only serves to show the dishonesty and lack of integrity of the current leadership of the EFCC.

"The fact is that Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, the two former Peoples Democratic Party members recently imprisoned for fraud, were charged and prosecuted by the PDP administrations of Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan’ and not by the All Progressive Congress-led government of Muhammadu Buhari.

"Joshua Dariye for instance was charged to court on July 13, 2007 by the EFCC under the leadership of Malam Nuhu Ribadu who was then serving under a PDP led administration headed by President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

"He was arraigned on 23 counts, his plea was taken but his defense lawyer challenged the court’s jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal threw out that application and the case went to trial on Oct.27, 2010.

"By May 29, 2015, when former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over power to President Muhammadu Buhari, the case had already reached the point where a verdict was to be given but the current EFCC headed by Ibrahim Magu began dragging its foot, most likely because by then Dariye had decamped to the APC.

"In the case of Reverend Jolly Nyame, he was arraigned in 2007 on 41 counts. His plea was taken and his trial begun after all applications filed by the accused to stall the trial were dismissed by the supreme court. Trial fully commenced and was on-going at FCT high cCourt by 2008."

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Omokri added that Jonathan "was noted for firing erring PDP ministers and handing them over for investigation by the EFCC" but said Buhari, on the other hand, failed to take action against those recently accused of corruption.