Supreme Court Affirms Conviction of Lamido’s Son Over Undeclared $40000

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The Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed the appeal filed by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, thereby upholding his conviction for failing to declare $40,000 at the airport.

In a unanimous ruling delivered on Friday, the five-member panel of justices resolved all three issues raised by the appellant against him, stating that the appeal had no substance.

The lead judgment, written by Justice Adamu Jauro and read by Justice Abubakar Umar, reaffirmed the earlier verdict of the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, which had sustained Aminu Lamido’s conviction as handed down by the Federal High Court in Kano.

The Supreme Court concurred with the findings of the lower courts that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had effectively established its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Aminu Lamido was prosecuted for failing to declare foreign currency and for providing false information to airport authorities—violations of financial disclosure laws.

On July 12, 2015, the Federal High Court in Kano convicted him and ordered that 25 percent of the undeclared funds be forfeited to the Federal Government.

After the Court of Appeal maintained the conviction, Aminu escalated the case to the Supreme Court. However, the apex court ruled that there was no justification to overturn the consistent judgments of the lower courts.