Fraud: Nyame contradicts statement

Former Taraba State governor Jolly Nyame yesterday told an FCT High Court in Gudu that he no longer relied on the statement he made to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as regard memos he approved for presidential visit to Mambilla in 2007.

EFCC is prosecuting Nyame for alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of N1.64 billion during his tenure as governor from 1999 to 2007.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, under crossexamination by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), Nyame said contrary to what he wrote in his statement to the EFCC, he approved the three memos for the presidential visit to Mambilla that cost over N100million on 11/04/2007.

He had made this assertion during his evidence in chief, but when the prosecution counsel directed his attention to where he said he first approved N32.3million, then N27million when he visited the project, and later approved a further N42million on a different day; Nyame said he was standing by what he said during his evidence in chief.

Justice Adebukola Banjoko ruled that the Zenith bank statement of account belonging to Nyame was admissible in evidence. Nyame had opposed the prosecution tendering the statement through him during the previous sitting.

The trial continues today with further crossexamination of Nyame, who is in the dock as a witness for himself.