Nyako Threatens To Sue EFCC For Defamation of Character

Former governor of Adamawa state, Murtala Nyako, who is standing trial along his son and others for alleged N29bn fraud charges, has vowed to sue the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for defamation of character.

Former Governor of Adamawa State , Murtala Nyako after he was granted bail at Federal High Court Abuja on Friday.
Nyako’s counsel,  Mohammed Bakari, in a statement on Wednesday July 15, said the EFCC  had defamed his character by saying that  he had a hand in the death of two of its witnesses, The Punch reports.
Bakari dismissed the anti-graft claim that  the witnesses died mysteriously, saying that the claim by EFCC’s prosecutor, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), and the deposition in the commission’s counter-affidavit as “baseless, wicked and unfounded allegation.”

Nyako’s lawyer noted that contrary to EFCC’s claims, two out of  the 31 persons lined up as prosecution witnesses died in hospitals after battling with certain known ailments.

He said: 

“They neither died at the same time nor slumped and died as insinuated by the EFCC.“While one died in a hospital in Abuja, the other died in a hospital in Yola shortly after he returned from a complicated medical treatment abroad.
“It is therefore unfair, unjust and uncharitable to accuse Nyako and his son of the death of the two persons, who as every human being has a sure date with death.
“This is totally unethical and Admiral Nyako has already decided to sue both the EFCC and their lawyer for defamation of character.”

Two witnesses, Ma’aji Mohammed Iro and Abdulmalik Dalhatu who testified against Nyako in the N29billion fraud charge preferred against him by the EFCC was said to have died in a mysterious manner few days after testifying, which have instilled fear in other prospective witnesses.