The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, challenging his conviction for failure to declare $40,000 at an airport.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court held that the appeal lacked merit and affirmed the decisions of the trial court and the Court of Appeal.
Aminu was arrested on December 11, 2012, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while preparing to travel to Cairo, Egypt.
The prosecution told the court that he declared $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) but was found in possession of an additional $40,000, which was not disclosed on his currency declaration form.
He was subsequently charged before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge of false declaration of foreign currency, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
On July 12, 2015, the trial court convicted him and ordered the forfeiture of 25 per cent of the undeclared sum to the Federal Government.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Aminu approached the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, seeking to set aside the conviction and the forfeiture order.
However, in a judgment delivered on December 7, 2015, the appellate court dismissed the appeal, a decision now upheld by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ordered that the trial of former Governor Sule Lamido, his two sons and others over alleged ₦1.35 billion fraud should continue before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
A five-member panel of the apex court gave the directive in two unanimous judgments delivered in appeals filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The apex court upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed the no-case submissions filed by the defendants and held that they had a case to answer.
The appeals were against the July 25, 2023 judgments of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, which upheld the no-case submissions by Lamido and others and struck out the 37-count charge on the grounds that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the lead judgment, Justice Abubakar Umar set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision and affirmed the earlier ruling of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which overruled the no-case submissions and ordered the defendants to enter their defence.
The EFCC alleged that Lamido, while serving as governor between 2007 and 2015, abused his office by laundering funds allegedly received as kickbacks from companies awarded contracts by the Jigawa State Government.
Those charged alongside him are his sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido; Aminu Wada Abubakar; and their companies, Bamaina Holdings Limited and Speeds International Limited.
