The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the conviction of Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, over his failure to declare $40,000 at the airport.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Friday by a five-man panel of the apex court, the justices dismissed Aminu Lamido’s appeal, describing it as lacking merit. The court resolved all three issues raised for determination against the appellant.
The lead judgment, authored by Justice Adamu Jauro and read by Justice Abubakar Umar, affirmed the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, which had earlier upheld Lamido’s conviction by the Federal High Court sitting in Kano.
The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) successfully proved its case against Aminu Lamido beyond reasonable doubt.
Lamido was prosecuted by the EFCC for failing to declare foreign currency and for making false declarations at the airport, offences that contravene Nigeria’s financial and currency declaration regulations.
In its judgment delivered on July 12, 2015, the Federal High Court, Kano, found him guilty and ordered the forfeiture of 25 per cent of the undeclared sum to the Federal Government. That verdict was later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
By dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court held that there was no justification to interfere with the concurrent findings of the two lower courts, thereby bringing the long-running legal battle to a close.
