A former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, was seen in court today begging the prosecution for mercy in his case
Dariye had been hauled in on 15 out of 23 counts he was charged with by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
His plea was made after comments made by the EFCC lawyer and prosecution, Rotimi Jacobs, at his trial on Tuesday.
Subsequent to reading the judgment, Justice Adebukola Banjoko allowed the lawyers speak for their clients. Mr Dariye’s lawyer, Paul Erokoro, pleaded with the court stating that his client was unaware of the crime at the time he committed it and asked the court to be considerate.
Mr Erokoro said that Dariye was a victim of ”the long years of military administration and should be viewed as a victim because he was ignorant of financial fraud and most of their components”.
He said that Dariye had no idea of the crime
The prosecution countered this stating that Mr. Dariye had fought the court for a very long time and was quite knowledgeable on what he did.
At this point, Mr. Dariye unable to hold himself any longer stood up quite suddenly and began to beg.
“Be merciful. You are a Christian, your name is Jacob,” Mr Dariye said.