The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by Aminu Sule Lamido, the 34-year-old son of the former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, against his conviction on the charge of failure to declare $40,000 cash at the airport and false declaration of foreign currency brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment of a five-member panel on yesterday, resolved all the three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellant.
In the lead judgment written by Justice Adamu Jauro but read by Justice Abubakar Umar, the apex court held that the appeal marked: SC/CV/201/2016 lacked merit, dismissed it and affirmed the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, Kaduna, which upheld the decision of the Federal High Court, Kano.
The Federal High Court, Kano had in its judgment on July 12, 2015 convicted Aminu and ordered him to forfeit 25 per cent of the undeclared foreign currency to the Federal Government.
Operatives of the EFCC had on December 11, 2012, arrested Aminu at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on his way to Egypt for failing to declare the sum of $40,000 cash in the Customs Currency Declaration Form after initially declaring the statutory $10,000 cash to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Aminu, a 2010 graduate of Mass a Communication from the Bayero University Kano, was subsequently arraigned by the EFCC on February 4, 2013, on one count charge of false declaration of foreign currency under the Money Laundering Act.
The charge reads: “That you, Aminu Sule Lamido, on or about 11th day of December, 2012 at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano within the Jurisdiction of the Federal High Court while transporting in cash, the sum of $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars only) from Nigeria to Cairo, Egypt, falsely declare to the Nigeria Customs Service the sum of $10,000 (Ten Thousand dollars only) instead of the said sum of $50,000(fifty thousand dollars only) as required under Section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Cap F34 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Section 2(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 2(5) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011.”
Aminu was subsequently arraigned by the EFCC before a Federal High Court in Kano, and in a judgment on July 12, 2015 the court convicted him and ordered him to forfeit 25 per cent of the undeclared foreign currency to the Federal Government.
He faulted the judgment and appealed at the Court of Appeal in Kaduna but lost when the appellate court in a judgment on December 7, 2015 dismissed the appeal and affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court in Kano.
Aminu subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which appeal was dismissed yesterday.
Also yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered that the stalled trial of former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, his two sons and others over alleged N1.35billion fraud should resume before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Both appeals were against the July 25, 2023 judgments by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld the no-case submission made by Lamido and others and struck out the 37-count charge on which they were being prosecuted on the grounds that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the lead judgment of the Supreme Court, Justice Abubakar Umar set aside the July 25, 2023 judgments of the Court of Appeal and affirmed the earlier decision by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja which overruled the no-case submissions by Lamido and others and ordered to enter their defence.
The EFCC, in the 37-count charge, among others, accused Lamido of abusing his position as governor between 2007 and 2015, allegedly laundering sums of money received as kickbacks from companies that were awarded contracts by the Jigawa State Government under his leadership.
The other defendants charged alongside Lamido are: his two sons – Aminu and Mustapha; Aminu Wada Abubakar and their companies – Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
Trial commenced in the case in 2015 during which the EFCC called about 16 witnesses before closing its case, and in a ruling in 2022, Justice Ojukwu overruled the defendants’ no-case submission and ordered them to enter their defence.
Lamido and others appealed to the Court of Appeal, which, in its decision on July 25, 2023, was in favour of the appellants.
Justice Adamu Waziri, in the lead concurrent judgment of a three-member, overturned Justice Ojukwu’s decision and held, among others, that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked jurisdiction to entertain the charge.
Justice Waziri was of the view that the alleged offences took place in Jigawa State, and on that ground, the charge ought to be filed in a Federal High Court in Jigawa State and not Abuja.
The court then struck out the charges and discharged the defendants; a decision the EFCC appealed to the Supreme Court.
