The Supreme Court has set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal that discharged former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido and his sons, Mustapha and Aminu, of money laundering charges.
A five‑member panel of the Supreme Court handed down the decision in a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday in separate appeals filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Grow your business with us
In the lead judgment read by a member of the panel, Abubakar Umar, the Supreme Court set aside the 25 July 2023 rulings of the Court of Appeal in Abuja and affirmed the earlier decision of Judge Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ruled that Mr Lamido and his co-defendants had a case to answer.
The Supreme Court ordered that the matter be returned to the Federal High Court for continuation of trial.
EFCC in 2015, charged Mr Lamido, his two sons and their companies before the Federal High Court in Abuja with 37 counts of money laundering involving about N1.35 billion allegedly siphoned from the state in a money laundering scheme. Mr Lamido and his co-defendants allegedly committed the offences during his time as the governor of the state.
The commission said he abused his office between 2007 and 2015 to launder funds received as kickbacks from state government contracts.
Other defendants in the case are his sons, Aminu and Mustapha Lamido, Aminu Wada Abubakar, and their companies, Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
After EFCC called more than 16 witnesses before closing its case, the defendants filed a no‑case submission, arguing that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to require them to open their defence.
But trial judge Ojukwu dismissed the submission and ordered them to enter defence in November 2022.
Mr Lamido, who recently indicated interest in becoming the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), went on appeal against the ruling.
In July 2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the no‑case submission and ruled that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked territorial jurisdiction to sit on the case in the first place.
The Court of Appeal held that the trial should have been conducted in Jigawa State, where the alleged offences occurred.
However, in August 2023, EFCC asked the Supreme Court to overturn the appellate court’s decision, leading to today’s Judgement.