Supreme Court orders fresh trial of Sule Lamido, sons over alleged N1.35bn money laundering

By Johnson Arua

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the resumption of trial against former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, and two of his sons, Mustapha and Aminu, over their alleged involvement in a N1.35 billion money laundering case.

In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Inyang Okoro set aside the ruling of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier discharged the defendants after striking out the charges against them.

The Supreme Court faulted the appellate court for terminating the case on technical grounds rather than allowing the matter to be determined on its merits. Consequently, it ordered that the charge be remitted to the Federal High Court for continuation of trial.

The decision followed two separate appeals—SC/CR/921/2023 and SC/CR/920/2023—filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Lamido and his son, Mustapha.

In a related judgment delivered the same day, the apex court also upheld the confiscation of $40,000 in undeclared foreign currency found on Lamido’s son, Aminu.

Aminu was arrested by EFCC operatives on December 11, 2012, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while attempting to travel to Egypt.

He was found to have failed to declare $40,000 in cash, having initially declared only the statutory $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service.

He was subsequently arraigned on a one-count charge of false declaration of foreign currency under the Money Laundering Act.

On July 12, 2015, the Federal High Court in Kano convicted him and ordered the forfeiture of 25 per cent of the undeclared sum to the Federal Government.

The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna on December 7, 2015. Aminu’s further appeal to the Supreme Court was, however, dismissed on Friday, effectively bringing the matter to a close.