EFCC fears Dariye may now seek to reclaim N500m Abuja mansion seized from him

FORMER Plateau State governor Joshua Dariye, may receive back from the federal government as N500m ($1.2m) mansion located in Abuja that was forfeited after he was convicted of stealing N1.16bn while in office.

Governor Dariye, who ruled Plateau State between 1999 and 2007, was charged with corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was convicted by Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in 2018 and the ruling was affirmed by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

However, on April 14, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari pardoned Governor Dariye along with 158 other convicts. Now that he has been forgiven, Governor Dariye may seek to reclaim the property located at 19 Frederick Chiluba Close, sitting on over 2,000 square metres of land in the Asokoro area of Abuja.

On the strength of the affirmation of the conviction by the Supreme Court, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Oluwaleke Atolagbe, approached a Federal High Court in Abuja seeking the final forfeiture of the property based on the argument that it was purchased with proceeds of crime. There are now fears that the governor may try to claim the juicy property back.

One EFCC official said: “That property cannot be worth less than N500m. The truth is that now that Dariye has been pardoned, it means the crime never occurred in the eyes of the law, which means the property may not be recovered from him.

"At this point, we don’t even know what will happen to the forfeiture case. It will now depend on the attorney-general of the federation to determine how to enforce the pardon along with the instruments of the pardon.”

In February, the EFCC had told Justice Inyang Ekwo that since the trial had been concluded and Governor Dariye had been jailed for a criminal breach of trust and dishonest conversion of over N1bn belonging to Plateau State. According to the agency, it was thus proper that the court order the final forfeiture of the convict’s known assets.