Former Governor of Plateau State Joshua Dariye and a former Taraba State Governor Jolly Nyame have been released from prison.
On April 14, 2022, the Council of State led by the President Muhammadu Buhari approved the pardon of the convicts alongside 159 others.
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service in the FCT, Chukwuedo Humphrey, has confirmed their release on Monday.
The two former governors were jailed for stealing public funds amounting to N2.76 billion.
The duo were granted pardons on the grounds of age and ill health.
In 2018, Reverend Nyame, 66, who was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for diverting public funds, was convicted and jailed for 14 years, after a trial that lasted 11 years.
The anti-graft agency had accused him of stealing N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor of Taraba, from 1999 to 2007.
In February 2020, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 12 years.
In 2018, Dariye, a former senator representing Plateau central district, was also jailed 14 years in prison for N1.126 billion fraud.
But a Court of Appeal reduced his term by four years.
The Supreme Court later affirmed the verdict.
Dariye, 64, was governor between 1999 and 2007.
