The National Council of State has granted state pardon to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba States respectively, who are serving terms in jail for corruption.
Gatekeepers News reports that the decision was taken at the council of state meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja.
The governors were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the council.
Also pardoned were, a former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, an army lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide of former deputy to General Abacha, Oladipo Diya; and all the junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup.
A Gatekeepers News source noted that the two former governors were pardoned on health and age grounds.
The meeting of the Council of State was attended by former presidents and military heads of state, except former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is in the United States on medical vacation.
The Nigerian Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian Government as stipulated by Third Schedule Part 1B of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The membership of the Council includes the President, who is Chairman; the Vice-President, who is Deputy Chairman; all former Presidents of the Federation and all former Heads of the Government of the Federation; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; the President of the Senate; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; all the Governors of the states of the Federation; and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
