Plainly, the man is struggling with the memory of his conviction and imprisonment for corruption-related crimes. Prematurely released from jail based on a controversial presidential pardon, he is now taking advantage of the undeserved release to argue that it was merited because he wasn’t guilty in the first place.
In April, the presidency had announced pardon for a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, based on the approval of the Council of State following recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy (PACPM).
He was among 159 people listed for pardon and clemency. Another former governor, Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, was one of them, also controversially.
They were two-term governors from 1999 to 2007. Dariye was serving a 10-year jail term, and Nyame was serving a 12-year jail term. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), “Both men were jailed for criminal misappropriation, diversion of public funds, and criminal breach of public trust and misappropriation of public funds.” They were released from Kuje Custodial Centre, Abuja, in August.
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“The whole amount we are talking about is N1.1bn,” Dariye said recently on a Channels TV show while speaking about his trial. According to a report, “he said N800m went to Plateau State account, N100m went to Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West; N100m went to Obasanjo campaign organisation; N80m went to ecological fund and about N60m to N66m went to PDP’s Plateau State office; about 274 wards and every ward got about N200,000.”
He sounded like he didn’t understand that it was wrong to have diverted public funds the way he did. He said his trial “was politically motivated.” He even brought God into the matter, saying “But I leave the rest to God.”
Dariye showed no remorse, not even a sense of remorse. “If that was the case, I take it as part of the cross of serving in a democracy,” he said. “If that donation amounted to criminal misappropriation, so be it. There are people who have done more damage that are not in prison. But I take it and I thank God.”
It is likely this post-release attitude is encouraged by the presidential pardon that cut short his imprisonment. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he might not have displayed the same attitude if he had been made to finish his jail term.
He fundamentally fails to see that he actually committed crimes and deserved to be punished. If he feels no remorse, he should keep quiet.