SUSPENDED Governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye may cut short his visit abroad and return home to dispel speculations that he was being allegedly detained abroad for alleged money laundering.
This followed an advice to this effect by some PDP elders who held a meeting Friday in Jos to discuss the development. Sunday Vanguard learnt that Dariye was on his way to a 10-day prayer conference in South Korea and only stopped over in London when the incident of his being questioned by the British police occurred. It was learnt that the concerned PDP elders felt it would do him good to return home and explain his position to his supporters so as to douse any wrong impressions that might have been created by reports of his alleged detention in London.
Although Dariye was said to have called some of them to explain things to them, he was nonetheless asked to come home as soon as possible to dispel the report that he was in detention once and for all. Meanwhile, Director-General of the Campaign Organization for Dariye’s re-election, Dr. Patrick Dakum has described the “propaganda” that surrounded Dariye’s alleged questioning by the British Police as part of the plot to stop him from returning as governor of the state.
He told Sunday Vanguard in a chat Friday that while it was normal for investigations to be conducted into issues bordering on legality, some people appear to have deliberately masterminded the entire matter to rubbish Dariye. He said he was yet to understand how the media in Nigeria got wind of the police invitation to Dariye just minutes after it happened and were fed with so much details even when the interrogation was yet to be concluded as enquiries from journalists showed.
Senator blames Dariye problem on PDP
Meanwhile, Senator Timothy Adudu (ANPP, Plateau) has blamed what he described as the Dariye problem on the leadership of PDP. Adudu spoke against the alleged arrest in London of Dariye, suspended from office as governor by President Olusegun Obasanjo in the wake of the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau State last May following ethno-religious killings in the state.
The Senator told Sunday Vanguard in Abuja last Friday that the ‘Dariye problem’ arose from the determination of the PDP to assert control over the state, even though the party knew it had a wrong product. “They wanted to eat their cake and have it, but now we all know they have failed, but the problem is that they have caused a problem for all of us, he stated.”
Adudu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, further said: “They (PDP) created the problem and PDP must solve it.
They were the ones who imposed Dariye on the people of Plateau, we didn’t want him, but as you all know they had their way against the majority of the people at the elections. So, this development has now shown for all that there was and there is still a problem in PDP and since they brought it on us all, how they solve it is their problem.
They all owe us that responsibility.” He said that the only way out of the confusion caused by the present development was for the governor to be recalled from suspension and speedily impeached. “That is the only way out of this PDP problem, every other thing they do will only complicate matters,” Senator Adudu asserted.
