UPDATE: Supreme Court affirms former Taraba gov’s conviction

The Supreme Court affirmed on Friday the judgment of the Court of appeal, Abuja Division that sentenced the former governor of Taraba State, Reverend Jolly Nyame to 12 years imprisonment for enriching himself with the sum of N1.6 billion belonging to the Taraba state government.

In the unanimous judgment read by Justice Amina Augie, the five-member panel of justices of the apex court, presided by Justice Mary Peter Odili however set aside all the fines imposed on Nyame by the Court of Appeal.

According to the Court of Appeal, the trial court by virtue of section 315 of the Criminal Code Act, ought to have imposed a fine on the governor in view of the gravity of the offence leveled against him so as to serve as deterrence.

According to the appellate court, the Nyame was fined N100m each on counts 1, 2 and 6. In counts 8, N50m; counts 10, 12, and 14, N20m each and counts 16, 18, 20, 29, 30, 31 and 32, N10mn each, while count 36, N5m.

The court held that the lower court was wrong to impose the fines on the appellant and added that the court below ought to have heard from Nyame who appealed for the reduction of the sentence imposed on him by the trial court, before imposing all the fines on him.

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“In the overall analysis, the judgment of the lower court is hereby affirmed but the fine imposed on the appellant is set aside”, Justice Augie held.

She, however, affirmed the guilt and conviction of the ex-governor by upholding the Court of Appeal’s reduction of the 14 years’ imprisonment to 12 years jail term.

Augie, who held that Nyame’s appeal succeeded in part, held that “Allowing the appeal in its entirety is a tall order, but there is no question that the fines were a nullity”.

Nyame’s appeal was against the November 16, 2018 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division which had affirmed Nyame’s conviction by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the FCT High Court had on May 30, 2018, convicted Nyame on a total of 27 out of the 41 corruption charges involving about N1.6 billion preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The misappropriated funds included ecological funds, those earmarked for grains and a presidential visit.

The former governor was convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment with the highest being 14 years for offences bordering on criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation, taking valuable things without consideration and receiving gratification as a public officer.

In its judgment delivered on November 16, 2018, the Court of Appeal affirmed the guilt of the former governor but citing section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 which prohibits the imposition of maximum sentences on first offenders, the Court of Appeal reduced the 14 years’ imprisonment to 12.

In addition to the 12 years’ sentence, however, the Justice Abdul Aboki-led panel of the Court of Appeal imposed a fine on Nyame, a punishment the trial court had omitted in the judgment delivered on May 30, 2018.

The former governor appealed against the judgment of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court, where Nyame’s counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN) on November 14, 2019, urged the court “to allow the appeal”.

But the counsel representing the anti-graft agency, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) urged the court to dismiss it.