The Plateau State government has reacted to the suits instituted at the Federal High Court sitt-ing in Kaduna by the Econ-omic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) descr-ibing it as “unconstitutional” and aimed to defame the character of the governor, Chief Joshua Dariye.
The EFCC had dragged Governor Dariye to the Kaduna federal high court for financial fraud involving N1,161,162,900 vide a Central Bank cheque knowing fully well that it was unlawfully procured.
According to the EFCC suit, Dariye was accused of “dishonestly misappro-priating the N1,161,162,900” by directing the All States Trust Bank Plc to disburse it as follows: N250 million to Pinnacle Communications Limited; N550 million to Plateau State government; N80 million to Union Homes; N100 million to PDP South West; N160 million to Ebenezer Retrian Ventures and N4.3 million to COT.
The EFCC said the offences violate the Money Laundering decree No. 3 of 1995 and punishable under section 15(2)(b) and 3(2) of the same decree as amended by Tribunals (Certain cons-equential amendments etc) Decree No. 62 of 1999.
The presiding judge, Justice Abdullahi Liman consequently ordered that criminal summons be issued against Dariye compelling him to appear and address the court on the question of his immunity.
However, the Plateau State government in a stat-ement signed by its perm-anent secretary, press and public affairs, Mr Ezekiel Dalyop, accused the EFCC of trying to destabilise the state by hunting top government officials without establishing any criminal verdict against them.
For instance, it said the EFCC “slammed a libel of corruption” on government officials without verifying from the end users whether such funds were connected to any case of diversion. He cited the N1250 million to Pinnacle saying that it is part of the instalment from the N900 million Plateau Radio Television (PRTV) turn aro-und project.
According to Plateau State government, the comm-ission was playing the role of a judge in its own case, leaving the accused guilty before any verdict is deliv-ered, even as it condemned the case at the Kaduna Fed-eral High Court pointing out that it was a desperate move to frustrate genuine appeals to reason and conscience wi-th the aim “to stampede their prey into submission by acts of terror and intimidation.”
The government maintained that it had nothing to hide and that its financial teams’ actions were available for anyone who wanted to crosscheck. It flayed the EFCC for trying to usurp the functions of the state Auditor-General and the House of Assembly.
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