The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido, challenging his conviction for failing to declare $40,000 at an airport.

 

 

In a unanimous ruling, the apex court panel dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.

 

 

 

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. Prosecutors alleged that he declared only $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service but was found with an undeclared additional $40,000.

 

 

He was charged at the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count offence of false declaration of foreign currency under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. On July 12, 2015, the court convicted him and ordered the forfeiture of 25 per cent of the undeclared sum to the Federal Government.

 

 

 

Aminu appealed to the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, seeking to overturn the conviction and forfeiture order, but the appellate court dismissed his appeal on December 7, 2015. His latest appeal to the Supreme Court has now been rejected.

 

 

 

In a separate development, the Supreme Court has ordered the continuation of the trial of former governor Sule Lamido, his two sons, and others over an alleged ₦1.35 billion fraud. A five-member panel delivered two unanimous judgments in the appeals filed by the EFCC, setting aside the July 25, 2023 rulings of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld a no-case submission and struck out the 37-count charge on jurisdictional grounds.

 

 

Justice Abubakar Umar, in the lead judgments, reinstated the decision of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which held that Lamido and his co-defendants had a case to answer and must enter their defence.

 

 

The EFCC alleges that Lamido abused his office between 2007 and 2015 and laundered kickbacks from companies awarded contracts by the Jigawa State Government. Charged alongside him are his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, as well as Aminu Wada Abubakar and their companies, Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.