Former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye
By Our Reporter
More facts have emerged on why Pa Defwan Dariye, 93 years old, father of a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye was kidnapped and killed by bandits. The killers have confessed that they kidnapped the deceased because they wanted to make money from his son.
One of the suspects, Abubakar Mohammed, said one Jethro Nguyen, a 53-year-old indigene of Bokkos in Plateau State, directed him to kill the victim.
He said, “I was contacted by Jethro Nguyen. He said his son was governor for 8 years and also senator for 8 years, that we should look around his community, that the youths are all over unemployed. That we should kidnap the father so that we can get a ransom. He stayed with us for like 8 days before he was killed.”
Another suspect, who identified himself as Sunday Ibrahim, also noted that the mastermind, Nguyen, hired 10 others to abduct the old man from his palace.
During his confession, Nguyen said he had to hire 10 others including some Fulani herders to successfully abduct the old man from his home.
It was this mastermind who also ensured that the victim was kept in their custody for 10 days before giving the order for his murder.
According to him, Pa Dariye was abducted because his son, Joshua had been a governor and senator but never helped his people.
Parading the suspects at Force headquarters, Abuja, spokesman for the Force, Frank Mba, explained that Pa Dariye, a 93-year-old man, was held incommunicado for about eight days under unsanitary conditions.
According to him, after a protracted negotiation, a ransom of N10 million was paid to the kidnappers but instead of setting the victim free, he was murdered.
Mba said the incident happened in June 2020, adding that after recovering the victim’s body, detectives from the Intelligence Response Unit and other police investigators swung into action.
The eight members of the syndicate arrested include Jethron Ngusen (57), from Horop village (who is the mastermind); Sunday Ibrahim, (35), from Horop village; Titus Ezikiel (33), from Horop; Ya’u Saidu aka Ya’u Kaban (40), from Kaban village and Dauda Isah (38), from Horop village.
Others are Mangut Shumuwar (30), from Horop village; Henry Amos (35), from Horop village; all in Mushere district of Bokkos.
