Abuja—A defence witness, Philip Akolo, orderly
to former Gov. Jolly Nyame of Taraba State,
told an FCT High Court, Gudu, yesterday, that
he signed only allowances on behalf of the
former governor while he was in office.
The witness spoke during the continuation of
cross examination by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,
prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs,



Akolo, who earlier testified on the last
adjourned date of April 25, 2017, told the court
that as an orderly, he was the closest to
Nyame and was always with him.
He said apart from allowances, he never signed
for any other money on behalf of the ex-
governor.
He denied any knowledge on the purchase of
equipment, grains, materials or anything for
that matter throughout the eight years he was
with Nyame.
He said he neither collected any money for the
purchase of security equipment, nor was he
privy to any approval made by Nyame for any
purchase.
Akolo, who said the only time he was not with
the ex-governor was when Nyame retired to
bed at night, also denied knowing anything
about disbursement of money.
“I don’t know anything about the disbursement
of any money for the purchase of anything,”
Akolo told the court.
The witness confirmed that in 2006, there was
no month he did not travel with Nyame to
Abuja, but that he never had anything to do
with financial transactions.
He said he could remember 65 per cent of the
happenings in Taraba government during
Nyame’s tenure from 1999 to 2007.
He insisted that he could not remember what
happened on the specific dates of July 3, 2005,
April 11, 2017 and April 12, 2007.
Rev. Jolly Nyame is facing trial on a 41-count
charge bordering on misappropriation of state
funds to the tune of N1.64 billion while in
office.
The judge, Justice Adebukola Banjoko,
adjourned the case until Tuesday, May 23 for
continuation of defence.