The trial of a former governor of Adamawa State,
Murtala Nyako, his son, Senator Abdul-Aziz
Nyako, Abubakar Aliyu and Zulkifikk Abba,
before Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High
Court, Abuja, got under way on Monday,
November 21, 2016 with the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, presenting
its first witness.They are facing a 37-count charge
bordering on criminal conspiracy, stealing, abuse
of office and money laundering to the tune of
N29 billion. Nyako and his co-defendants are
alleged to have used five companies – Blue Opal
Nigeria limited, Serore Farms & Extension
Limited, Pagoda Fortunes Limited, Towers Assets
Management Limited and Crust Energy Limited
to commit the fraud.At the resumed hearing, the
prosecution witness, Ugochukwu Dumukwu,
branch head of the FBN Merchant Bank,
Maitama, Abuja, told the court that he did not
know the source of the various sums of money
credited into the accounts of Tower Asset
Management Limited, domiciled with the
bank.Under cross-examination by prosecution
counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, he told the court
that the EFCC contacted the bank in respect of
investigations into transactions involving, Blue
Ribbon Multilinks Nigeria Ltd and Tower Asset
Management Nigeria Ltd.“We were requested to
provide incorporation documents such as form
CO7, CO2, SCUML registration documents for Blue
Ribbon Multilinks Ltd, also proof of identity for
the signatories to the accounts,” he said.

He noted that the EFCC also requested documents,
which included account opening forms for the
two companies, transaction history for both
companies, also letters of instruction from the
customers, as well as copies of cheques issued to
the customer.The documents, which were
presented to the court by Jacobs, were identified
by the witness.However, Ibrahim Isiyaku, counsel
to Zulkifikk Abba and Towers Assets, who also
held brief for Kanu Agabi, SAN, counsel for
Nyako, his son and Serore Farms & Extension
Limited, objected to the admissibility of some of
the documents, which included the data page of
the international passport of Abba, arguing that
it was not certified by the Nigeria Immigration
Service, NIS. Counsel to Abubakar Aliyu, Y.C
Maikyau, SAN, also aligned with Isiyaku, and
urged the court to reject the documents in
evidence.Jacobs, who accepted the objections of
the defence counsels, noted that: “I do not want
to waste the time of the court arguing on the
admissibility or otherwise of the documents in
question, and so withdraw them as the identity
of the persons involved is not in dispute.”Justice
Abang, thereafter, admitted the other
documents in evidence marking them as exhibits
A1-A166.
The admitted documents, included
transfer history detailing the flow of cash into
Blue Ribbon Multilinks from Tower Asset
Management, letter of instruction from the
owners of the account, as well as copies of
cheques used as instruments of
payment.According to Dumukwu, signatories to
Blue Ribbon Multilinks included Abubakar Aliyu
and Abubakar Y. Abba. He listed its directors to
include Nyako Abdulaziz Murtala, Aliyu Abubakar
and Yahaya Abubakar Abba. He further noted
that signatories to Tower Asset Management
included Aliyu Abubakar, J.L. Kogis, while the
directors were Mohammed D. Saheed, Abubakar
Yar’Adua, Abubakar Aliyu, Grace Danamadami,
Kogis Jonathan, Abduwahab Usman, and Engr.
Sambo Yahaya.Justice Abang after accepting the
documents in evidence against the defendants
thereafter adjourned to November 29, 2016 for
continuation of trial.
NAN