The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reduced the jail term of the former
Governor of Taraba State, Reverend Jolly Nyame, from 14 to 12 years.
The Justice Abdul Aboki-led three-man panel of the Court of Appeal,
in addition to the 12-year sentence, also imposed a fine of total sum of
N495m on the convict, a fine that the lower court had omitted while
dispensing the earlier sentence.
Delivering the lead judgment on Friday, Aboki held that the lower
court erred when it took it upon itself not to impose fine, as such in
counts 1, 2 and 6 that have to do with criminal breach of trust.
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Gudu, Abuja had
earlier this year sentenced the former governor to 14 years imprisonment
after being convicted of misappropriating N1.64billion from the state’s
treasury.
Nyame was said to have embezzled the money through shoddy stationery
contracts, which he awarded at the tail of his eight years
administration in 2007.