A state High Court sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on Friday, September 2, discharged and acquitted a former governor of the state, Jonah Jang, of over the N6.3 billion corruption charges levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court presided over by Justice Christy Dabup also discharged and acquitted a former cashier in the office of the Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Yusuf Pam, who was accused alongside the former governor.
Jang had in March 2021 appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to pardon another ex-Governor of Plateau, Joshua Dariye; a former Taraba State Governor, Jolly Nyame.
The Council of State led by the President subsequently in April 2022 approved the pardon of 159 convicts including Dariye and Nyame.
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Before their release, Dariye was serving 10 years’ imprisonment for N1.126bn fraud whilst Nyame was serving a 12-year jail sentence for diverting N1.64bn when he was governor of Taraba.
EFCC To Appeal
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday announced that it will appeal the decision of a Plateau State High Court discharging and acquitting Jang, and Pam, of the charges of alleged N6.3bn fraud.
This was announced by the commission in a press release issued on Friday afternoon and was signed by its Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren.
The EFCC said in a statement headed “Alleged N6.3b Fraud: EFCC to Appeal Jonah Jang, Pam’s Acquittal” that the appeals procedure had been started “immediately.”
The commission’s statement read;
The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to the Friday, September 2, 2022 judgment of Justice C. L. Dabup of the Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, discharging and acquitting a former governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah David Jang and a former cashier in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, OSSG, Yusuf Pam, of the seventeen-count charges bordering on criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of Plateau State funds to the tune of N6.3 billion.
The Commission has initiated processes for an Appeal immediately.
