BEVERLY HILLS, July 09, (THEWILL) – A federal high court in Kano has remanded Mr. Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa State, his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha and one Aminu Wada Abubakar to prison until September 28, 2015, when it has scheduled ruling on their application for bail.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting them on allegations of graft and laundering millions of naira.
Justice Evelyn Anyadike remanded them in prison custody because the EFCC said its facilities in Kano and Abuja could not hold the four men because of unavailability of space.
The men were arraigned alongside five companies believed to be owned by Mr. Lamido. The companies are Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamiana Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminum Limited and Speeds International Limited.
In the 28-count suit preferred against them, the EFCC alleged that Lamido between when he served as governor (2007-2015) approved contracts to the companies where his two sons acted as front.
One of the counts in the charge reads, “That you Alhaji Sule Lamido (while being the Governor of Jigawa State, Nigeria), Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido, Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited and Speeds International Limited between 15th October and 18th December, 2008 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did convert an aggregate sum of N 124, 649, 915 (One Hundred and Twenty Four Million, Six Hundred and Forty Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifteen Naira) paid by Dantata & Sawoe Limited into the account of Speeds International Limited domiciled with an old generation Bank at Kano which fund you reasonably ought to have known to be proceeds of an unlawful act of Alhaji Sule Lamido who was a Public Officer within the meaning of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers as prescribed under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ( as amended ) to wit; engaging in private business by a public officer, using the said company in which he is a director and a shareholder, and to whose account he is a signatory; with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the said sum and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 (A) of the Money Laundering Act, 2004.”
However when the charges were read to the accused persons they pleaded not guilty.
The arraignment of Lamido and his children was not without incident as an unruly crowd of supporters loyal to the former governor threatened to disrupt the court session. It took reinforcement of the detachment of policemen at the court to maintain order.
The travails of the Lamidos began in 2012 when one of his sons, Aminu was arrested by operatives of the EFCC at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano for failing to declare a sum of forty thousand United States Dollars ($40,000). He was prosecuted and convicted; with 50 percent of the undeclared sum forfeited to the Federal Government. But the investigation into the source of the funds led investigators into the closely guarded web of corruption and money laundering involving members of the former first family of Jigawa state and their cronies.
