N1.35B MONEY LAUNDERING: EX GOV. SULE LAMIDO, TWO SONS TO SPEND TWO MONTHS BEHIND BARS

The Federal High Court in Kano today has ordered former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, accused of fraud, to be remanded in prison custody in Kano till September 28, 2015. The former governor was arraigned on Thursday alongside his children for receiving N1.35 billion kickback from a government contractor. The money was reportedly paid into accounts controlled by the governor and his sons.

The EFCC, accused the trio of money laundering, amongst other charges. They were due for arraignment Wednesday, but the court appearance was rescheduled to Thursday. Delivering her judgement, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ruled that the accused persons be remanded in a Kano Prison Custody because the EFCC said they lacked enough facilities to accommodate them.

She rejected the pleas of defense counsel, Effiong Effiong, SAN, that the accused by kept at EFCC custody, saying the commission had complained of adequate facilities. Twenty eight-count charge bordering on a number of alleged breach of trust by Sule Lamido, Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido and one Aminu Wada Abubakar, was read in the court.

The defense counsel, Mr. Effiong had argued that remanding the accused persons in prison will amount to trampling on their fundamental human rights. He pleaded they be sent to EFCC facilities.
But, the counsel to EFCC, Chile Okoroma, objected to the plea saying their EFCC facilities were full to capacity both in Kano and Abuja.

EFFC agents arrested Lamido and his sons – Aminu and Mustapha – in Abuja on Tuesday on allegation of money laundering. Aminu and Mustapha were first arrested in November 2013 in Kano over N10bn fraud and flown to Abuja but their trial stalled after their father, who was a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) G7 which comprised of seven governors, backtracked on joining the All Progressives Congress (APC)