Former Adamawa State Governor, Vice Admiral Muritala Nyako rtd and his son, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako have lost his bid to stop the N29bn Money Laundering criminal charges brought against them by the federal government.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed their appeal seeking to terminate the fraud case against them on the ground that the exhibits and evidence provided by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC did not link them with the commission of the alleged offences.
In a unanimous judgment of a 3- man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal read by Justice Olabisi Ige, the former Adamawa governor and his son were ordered to go and defend himself in the N29bn fraud against them.
Justice Ige in the lead judgment held that both oral and documentary evidence tendered against them by the EFCC effectively and sufficiently linked them with the alleged fraud.
The appellate court said the appeal of the former governor and his son were devoid of merit, liable for dismissal and were consequently dismissed.
The court ordered them to return to the Federal High court in Abuja and prove their innocence in the 37 counts criminal charges against them.
The EFCC had instituted 37-count criminal charges against Nyako and his son at the federal high court in Abuja bothering on on alleged fraud that ran to N29bn.
However, at the close of the prosecution’s case, the former governor and his son filed a no-case submission claiming that non of the 21 exhibits tendered and the evidence of 21 witnesses linked them with the alleged offences
They had prayed the high court to terminate the charges against them on the ground that a prima facie case was not made out against them to warrant defending themselves from the charges.
However, Justice Okon Abang of the federal high court in Abuja had on July 19, 2021, ruled against them and held that they have a case to answer in the fraud charges.
Dissatisfied with the high court decision, the former governor and his son had approached the Court of Appeal praying it to overrule the high court findings.
Justice Ige of the Court of Appeal, however, refused to grant their request to void and set aside the decision of the high court but instead ordered the former governor and his son to go and face their trial at the federal high court in Abuja.