Ex-convict and former Plateau governor, Joshua Dariye, has opened up on how he looted his state’s treasury to the tune of N1.126 billion, identifying former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP as beneficiaries.

Mr Dariye, until his recent defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In an interview with Channels TV, the ex-governor narrated how he spent the loot.

In his account, only N80 million went into the ecological fund, while a large part of the money went to the state government account.

“N66 million went into the PDP Plateau state; N800 million into the Plateau state government account; N100 million was moved into PDP South-West, and another N100 million was used for the campaign of Obasanjo’s reelection in 2003,” Mr Dariye told Channels TV.

Mr Dariye served as governor of Plateau state between 1999 to 2007. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charged him in 2007 for diverting over a billion naira of the state’s ecological fund.

He was convicted in 2018 by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

Mr Dariye bagged 14 years for the stealing, a verdict that the Supreme Court later affirmed in 2020. He was serving his sentence at the federal correctional facility in Kuje, a suburb of Abuja, when President Muhammadu Buhari, his party ally, granted him a state pardon.

Mr Buhari was elected in 2015 on the back of his fervent promises to stamp out corruption, but his regime has been mired in corruption, ineptitude and gross human rights violations. 

Last April, the United States annual report said corruption had worsened under Mr Buhari. 

Mr Buhari has denied all allegations of corruption and human rights abuses, but experts said overwhelming evidence of his actions is enough to determine his legacy.