Supreme Court Upholds Conviction Of Ex-Taraba Gov, Nyame

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the conviction and 12-year imprisonment handed to the former Governor of Taraba State, Reverend Jolly Nyame by the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

The Court of Appeal, in a November 16, 2018 judgment upheld Nyame’s conviction and sentencing over his fraudulent conduct while in office as governor.

In a judgment, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court partially upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, but set aside the portion of the judgment which imposed millions of naira fines on the ex-Governor.

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Justice Amina Augie, who read the lead judgment, said the Court of Appeal imposed fine without any prompting by either of the parties to the case.

It will be recalled that Justice Adebukola Banjoko of an Abuja High Court had on May 30, 2018, found Nyame guilty on 27 out of the 41-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him.

Specifically, the court sentenced him to 14 years for criminal breach of trust, 2 years for misappropriation, 7 years for gratification and 5 years for obtaining valuable public properties without consideration.

However, the appellate court on November 16, 2018, reduced the sentence which is running concurrently, to 12 years, 5 years, 4 years and one-year and nine months, respectively, with fines ranging from N100m to N5m.