…To resume trial
The Supreme Court yesterday delivered two far-reaching judgments involving former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamiɗo, and his family, dismissing an appeal by his son, Aminu, over undeclared foreign currency while also ordering Lamiɗo, his two sons and others to resume trial over an alleged ₦1.35 billion fraud.
In the first decision, the apex court dismissed Aminu Lamiɗo’s appeal challenging the forfeiture of $40,000 he failed to declare at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport while travelling to Egypt.
A 5-member panel of the court, led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, held that the appeal lacked merit and affirmed the concurrent judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Aminu was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on December 11, 2012, after allegedly declaring only $10,000 instead of the $40,000 in his possession. He was subsequently convicted by the Federal High Court in Kano on July 12, 2015, which ordered the forfeiture of part of the undeclared funds to the Federal Government. His appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in December 2015, prompting a further appeal to the Supreme Court.
Delivering the unanimous judgment, Justice Adamu Jauro, as read by Justice Abubakar Umar, described the appeal as “doomed to fail” and upheld the earlier rulings. The EFCC prosecution team was led throughout the trial and appeals by DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, now Acting Zonal Director of the commission’s Benin Directorate, while Aminu was represented by Chief O.E.B. Offiong (SAN).
In a separate but related ruling the same day, the Supreme Court ordered Sule Lamiɗo, his sons Aminu and Mustapha, and other defendants to enter their defence at the Federal High Court, Abuja, over alleged money laundering and abuse of office involving about ₦1.35 billion.
The apex court set aside the July 25, 2023 judgments of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which had upheld a no-case submission by Lamiɗo and others and struck out the 43-count charge on jurisdictional grounds. Justice Abubakar Umar, in the lead judgment, restored the earlier ruling of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, of the Federal High Court, which overruled the no-case submission and ordered the defendants to open their defence.
The EFCC alleges that Lamiɗo, while governor between 2007 and 2015, used his office to launder public funds through various companies, including Bamaina Holdings Limited and Speeds International Limited, with the involvement of his sons and associates. The Commission argued at the Supreme Court that sufficient evidence had been led to require the defendants to answer the charges.
With yesterday’s twin judgments, the Supreme Court has not only sealed the forfeiture of Aminu Lamiɗo’s undeclared foreign currency but also cleared the way for the long-running N1.35 billion fraud trial against the former governor and his co-defendants to continue at the Federal High Court.
