Appeal Court reduces Nyame's 14-year prison sentence, fines him N495m

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has reduced the jail term of former Taraba State governor, Jolly Nyame, from the initial 14 years to 12 years and hit him with a fine of N495 million.

Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja had sentenced the former governor to 14 years behind bars without an option of fine on May 30, 2018.

Nyame was jailed two years for receiving gratification, five years for obtaining public funds without due consideration, seven years for criminal breach of trust, and and 14 years for gratification. The jail terms were to run concurrently.

However, in a judgement handed down by the appeal court on Friday, November 16, the court reduced the 14-year jail term to 12 years.

Noting that the law compels the lower court to add a fine for each of the various convictions, Nyame was ordered to pay a fine of N495 million as fine.

Nyame was Taraba State governor between 1999 and 2007.

Dariye's prison sentence also reduced

The Appeal Court also reduced the jail term of former Plateau State governor, Joshua Dariye, from the initial 14 years to 10 years on Friday.

Joshua Dariye ece-auto-gen

The former governor had also been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by the same FCT High Court, also led by Justice Banjoko, on June 12, 2018, after he was found guilty of criminal breach of trust and diverting N1.162 billion state ecological funds while he was governor between 1999 and 2007.

In its ruling, the Appeal Court said the lower court erred in law when it sentenced Dariye excessively, especially as a first-time offender, even though the conviction was deemed correct.

The court reduced the sentence of 14 years for the breach of trust to 10 years and the conviction for the diversion was reduced from two years to one. The sentences will run concurrently.