On September 2, 2004, Plateau State Governor, Chief Joshua Dariye was arrested in his room at the Marriott Hotel in London by officers of the Metropolitan Police.
According to sources at Scotland Yard, the governor was detained following a routine intelligence-led operation.
During the search, officers said they recovered various amounts of money in different currencies totalling well over £90,000.
The cash, which included British pounds, US dollars, and other currencies, was said to have been found in luggage in the governor’s hotel suite.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said Dariye was arrested on suspicion of money laundering and possession of proceeds believed to be from corruption.
He was taken to a central London police station for questioning and later released on bail pending further investigation.
Dariye, who was elected governor of Plateau State in 1999 under the Peoples Democratic Party, was in the United Kingdom on what aides described as a private visit.
Legal experts say if charged and convicted in the UK, the governor could face jail time and forfeiture of the recovered funds. Nigerian anti-corruption groups have called for a full probe into the source of the money.
