The Court of Appeal of Nigeria today reinstated the fugitive Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Chibi Dariye (b. July 27, 1957) to his governorship seat in the state.
It will be recalled that the governor was impeached on November 13, 2006 by the six out of the 24 State House of Assembly members (even though the 2/3 Constitutional requirement for impeaching him was 16 members) for corruption under controversial circumstances following his arrest in London on January 24, 2004. Mr. Dariye escaped from the UK while on bail. Since his impeachment Mr. Dariye had gone underground because the EFCC was looking to execute an arrest warrant issued on him by the London Metropolitan Police.
Also his principal accomplice in London, Ms. Joyce Oyebanjo was recently convicted by a court in the UK and she awaits sentencing.
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Mum guilty of laundering African crook's millions
WALTHAM Cross mum Joyce Oyebanjo is facing jail for laundering "millions" of pounds for a corrupt Nigerian state governor.
Oyebanjo, 41, of Teresa Gardens, allowed multi-millionaire Joshua Dariye to hide his fortune in a string of bank accounts.
The court heard she paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to the crooked politician from the accounts over more than four years.
She also used cash from the accounts to pay school fees for his children, who were pupils at an exclusive public school in Gloucestershire, and to pay hospital and air ambulance bills for Dariye's dodgy associates.
He fled the country after being impeached three years ago.
Jurors at Southwark Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, 22 February) convicted Oyebanjo of conspiring with the crooked politician to launder his millions.
The two-week trial heard how the highly educated mum, who was born in Fife, Scotland, got to know the corrupt politician while studying in Nigeria 17 years ago.
Dariye was the federal governor of the central Nigerian state of Platau, for which he earned the equivalent of around £20,000.
More than £1.5m flowed through accounts opened by Oyebanjo on his behalf.
Carey Johnstone, prosecuting, said Oyebanjo's accounts were being used as a "conduit for Mr Dariye's crimes".
But she claimed she had no idea the cash was the proceeds of crime and said she had been effectively groomed for her role over several years of phoney friendship.
She claimed she believed he was wealthy and so was not surprised by the amounts passing through her accounts.
"I had no reason to believe he was lying," she said. "I don't know what governors in Nigeria are or are not entitled to."
But the jurors found she had knowingly colluded with the illusive crook.
One of Nigeria's most senior police officers, financial crime commissioner Ibrahim Lamonde, told the jury that Dariye had committed countless crimes while in power.
He said: "We were asked to help our colleagues in Britain, which we did. Between us we discovered a lot of Dariye's money was passing through Ms Oyebanjo's accounts."
She was arrested at the end of 2004 and this was her second trial after the first ended in a hung jury.
She denied knowingly laundering the proceeds of crime on behalf of Dariye between January 1, 2000 and July 27, 2004.
Sentencing was adjourned while reports are prepared.
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