The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, challenging the forfeiture of $40,000 to the Federal Government
A five-member panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro ruled that the appeal had no merit, affirming the decisions of the lower courts.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro and read by Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar, the apex court said the appeal was “doomed to fail,” formally upholding the forfeiture of the funds.
The case stems from December 11, 2012, when Aminu Lamido was arrested at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while preparing to fly to Cairo, Egypt. He had declared $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service but was found carrying $50,000 in cash.
He was arraigned on February 4, 2013, before the Federal High Court in Kano on a charge of false declaration of foreign currency under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. On July 12, 2015, the trial court convicted him and ordered 25 percent of the undeclared cash forfeited to the Federal Government. The Court of Appeal in Kaduna upheld the judgment on December 7, 2015.
Aminu Lamido then appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the lower courts’ decisions. At the last hearing, counsel for both sides adopted their written submissions before the apex court reserved judgment.
In Friday’s ruling, the Supreme Court found the appeal lacked merit on all grounds, leaving the forfeiture order intact and confirming that both the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal had properly evaluated the evidence and applied the law in reaching their judgments.
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