The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the forfeiture of $40,000 to the Federal Government, dismissing an appeal filed by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, ruled that the appeal lacked merit and upheld the decisions of the lower courts. The unanimous judgment was delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro and read by Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar, who described the appeal as “doomed to fail.”
The ruling brings to a close a case that began on December 11, 2012, when Aminu Lamido was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while preparing to travel to Cairo, Egypt. Although he declared $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service, he was found to be carrying $50,000 in cash.
Lamido was arraigned on February 4, 2013, before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge of false declaration of foreign currency, contrary to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and related laws. On July 12, 2015, the trial court convicted him and ordered that 25 per cent of the undeclared funds be forfeited to the Federal Government. The Court of Appeal in Kaduna upheld the decision on December 7, 2015.
Unhappy with the outcome, Lamido approached the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the judgments of the lower courts. However, in its final ruling on Friday, the apex court held that the appeal failed on all grounds.
The court further affirmed that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal properly evaluated the evidence and delivered judgments in accordance with the law, leaving the forfeiture order intact.
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