Supreme court orders Ex- Governor Jolly Nyame to stay in jail

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal which sentenced the former governor of Taraba state, Jolly Tavoro Nyame to 12 years imprisonment for breach of trust and misappropriation of public funds.

According to Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Gudu, Abuja, she said it was right to have convicted both men in view of the overwhelming evidence presented by the prosecution led by Rotimi Jacobs (SAN).

The judgement were on the appeal filed by Nyame, against the judgment of the High Court of the FCT given on May 30, 2019. In the May 30 judgment, given on the charge marked: FCT/ABJ/CR/82/07, the trial court convicted Nyame on 27 out of the 41 counts contained in the charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in July 2007.

The court has however set aside the N495 million naira fine imposed on him by the appeal court.

Nyame had approached the Supreme Court after the court of appeal affirmed his conviction by an FCT high court, but reduced the sentence from 14 to 12 years.