N1.6bn fraud: S/Court affirms Nyame’s 12-year jail term

The Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the sentence of a former governor of Taraba State, Jolly Nyame, by an FCT High Court and the Court of Appeal.

A five-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Mary Odili unanimously held that the sentence of 14 years by the high court which was later reduced to 12 years by the Court of Appeal in May 2018 and  November 2018 respectively, stood.

Justice Amina Augie said the appeal partly succeeded because the Court of Appeal imposed fines worth N495m which was in excess of its jurisdiction.

“Allowing this appeal in its entirety is a tall order in view of the other issues resolved against the appellant. However, there is no doubt that the fines imposed were a nullity,” she said.

Nyame, who was in office between 1999 and 2007, was in May 2018 convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison by an FCT High Court on charges of misappropriation of security votes, funds for grains and a presidential visit by former president Olusegun Obasanjo valued at N1.6bn.

He filed a post-sentence appeal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja through his lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN). The three-member panel presided over by Justice Akomaye Agim in November, 2018 reduced the term to 14 years but imposed fines in five of the 41-count charges.