Kidnappers killed Dariye's father for son's failure as governor, senator

Pa Dariye Dafwan was kidnapped and eventually killed by a gang reportedly because of the failure of his son, former Plateau State governor, Joshua Dariye, to develop his community as a public officer.

Dafwan was kidnapped from his home in June 2020 and shot dead eight days later, even though his family paid the gang a ransom of N10 million.

The Police Force announced that, over one year later, eight suspects have been arrested, parading all of them before the media in Abuja on Wednesday, September 8, 2021.

The suspects that played a major role in the abduction and murder, including the mastermind, identified as Jethro Ngusen, are from the same village as the victim.

Sunday Ibrahim, one of the principal suspects, said Ngusen gave him the assignment after he deemed Joshua Dariye's time in public office a failure.

"He looked around the community, and the youths are unemployed. So we kidnapped him to get a ransom," he said.

Mangut Shumwar, alleged as the one that shot the victim to death, said he was ordered to do so by Ngusen, claiming that it was the first time he was handling a weapon.

Force spokesperson, CP Frank Mba, said the victim was murdered because the gang feared he might recognise those from his village.

However, Ngusen said at Wednesday's parade that it was never his intention to have Dafwan killed as long as the gang's demand was met.

"I gave the job to these children and they went and messed up. It's not good to collect ransom and kill the person," he said.

Joshua Dariye was Plateau governor between 1999 and 2007, and senator representing Plateau Central between 2011 and 2019.

The 64-year-old was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Federal Capital Territory High Court in June 2018 for criminal breach of trust and diversion of the state's N1.162 billion ecological funds.

The Appeal Court reduced the jail term from the initial 14 years to 10 years because he was a first-time offender.

The Supreme Court earlier this year upheld the 10-year sentence, rejecting Dariye's attempt to have his years of imprisonment further reduced, or his conviction completely upturned.