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 of the apex court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, ruled that the appeal lacked 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 court said the appeal was “doomed to fail” and formally upheld the forfeiture of the funds to the Federal Government.
The case dates back to December 11, 2012, when Aminu was arrested at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while preparing to travel to Cairo, Egypt. He had declared $10,000 to the Nigeria Customs Service but was found in possession of $50,000 in cash.
He was arraigned on February 4, 2013, before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge of false declaration of foreign currency under 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 cash be forfeited to the Federal Government. The Court of Appeal in Kaduna upheld that judgment on December 7, 2015.
Dissatisfied, Aminu Lamido appealed to the Supreme Court, seeking to nullify the decisions of the lower courts. At the last hearing, counsel for both sides adopted their written briefs, after which the apex court reserved judgment.
In Friday’s ruling, the Supreme Court held that the appeal lacked merit on all grounds, leaving intact the forfeiture order.
The court further affirmed that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal properly evaluated the evidence and delivered judgments in line with the law.
