Jolly Nyame, a former governor of Taraba State has been sentenced to 28 years in prison – 14 years for criminal breach of trust, 2 years for criminal misappropriation, 7 years for gratification and 5 years for obtaining by dishonesty.
Nyame, whose trial began on July 13, 2007 before Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Guru, was charged with 41 counts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for criminal misappropriation, diversion of public funds, and breach of public trust.
In a ruling which lasted more than 4 hours, Justice Banjoko found Nyame guilty of counts 1, 2, 6, 8,10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, and 36 – charges bordering on criminal breach of public trust; counts 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23 and 25 – charges bordering on misappropriation of public funds; counts 4 and 5 for charges bordering on gratification. He was, however discharged of counts 22, 24, 26, 28, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41.
In the well considered ruling, Justice Banjoko, noted that Nyame, a clergyman, as governor of Taraba, breached the trust reposed in him by the indigenes of the state, when he misappropriated N250 million which he approved purportedly for the purchase of stationery for the state.
“From the totality of facts before the court, Nyame approved N250 million for purchase of stationery, but is found to have no intention to fulfill the purpose,” the trial judge held.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution called 14 witnesses and presented documentary evidence, which among other things revealed that the N250 million was shared and never utilised for the purpose for which it was approved. A total of N180 million was diverted to the bank account of Salman Global Ventures Limited, which provided no services for the state.
