Barring any last-minute change, former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Joshua Dariye, will declare interest to contest the Plateau Central senatorial seat on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).
Dariye and former Taraba State Governor, Jolly Nyame, and three others were, on Monday released from prison three months after their pardon on April 14, 2022 by the National Council of State presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dariye, who was serving 10 years’ imprisonment for N1.126 billion fraud, was released after about four years in prison.
Sources confirmed from credible sources that the Plateau State chapter of LP has concluded arrangements to receive the former Plateau Governor from Abuja to pick the party’s senatorial form.
Dariye, who served as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor, defected from the party. He contested and won a senatorial seat in 2011 on the platform of LP.
A Labour Party official, who preferred not to be named, said: “Yes, it is true that he (Dariye) will be running for a Senate seat. We are making arrangements for him to come from Abuja for the senatorial declaration.”
The source said Dariye would spring surprises at the polls because he remained loved by many in the State.
Dariye’s homecoming, the source said, has also given a boost to the Governorship bid of the party’s candidate, Patrick Dakum, who defected to the Labour Party, after failing to secure the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Labour Party’s chairperson for Plateau State, Hon Grace Zamfara, could not be reached for comments.
First published in Daily Trust