Indications pouring in suggest that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria has found the Former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye guilty of misappropriation.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Adebukola Banjoko made the pronouncement that Dariye was guilty on one count of fraud (as our counts were still being considered). This puts an end to the decade long trial which has seen numerous twist turns, with the allegation that the honourable senator has misappropriated N1.1 billion of state funds.

Senator Dariye arrived court at 9:08 am, wearing a white Baban Riga and a white cap -looking cheery and in good spirits.

Our reporter observed there was heavy and tight security at the court as there were three security checkpoints on the street leading to the court house.

Each of the security checkpoint, manned by heavily armed mobile policemen, scrutinised motorists.

The third checkpoint had Explosive Ordinance Detection (EOD) officials checking each vehicles for explosives.

ViewPointNigeria Analysis

Senator Joshua Dariye’s case has lingered on for over a decade and now has reached its crescendo. Even though many will be pleased that the case is coming to an end. Many Plateau natives who spoke to ViewPointNigeria’s analysts have expressed mixed feelings at  the pronouncement, saying the case has been hurried along into a conviction, in order to bolster president Buhari’s corruption fighting credentials ahead of the 2019 elections.

Chalmak who spoke to our reporter said, “Dariye is not a saint, we all know that”, but president Buhari’s desperation for 2019 is what is the reason for securing this conviction”. “Let us not forget that this man also invoked June 12 as a desperate measure to lure teh South West towards himself – he will stop at nothing to achieve his aim”

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Senator Joshua Dariye found guilty of misappropriation