EFCC
Press Release
A
former governor of Jigawa state, Sule
Lamido, his two sons Aminu and Mustapha and one Aminu Wada Abubakar are to remain in prison till September 28,
2015. The quartet were remanded in prison custody this morning by Justice
Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano after they were
docked on a 28-count charge of corruption and money laundering brought against
them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
They
were arraigned alongside four companies where the Lamidos are believed to have
interest. The companies are Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamiana Company Nigeria
Limited, Bamaina Aluminum Limited and Speeds International Limited.
Lamido
is said to have abused his position as governor of Jigawa State between 2007
and 2015, by awarding contracts to companies where he has interest, using his
two sons, Aminu and Mustapha 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.
Their counsel, Offiong Offiong, SAN told the court that he had filed application
for bail and urged the court to consider granting the accused persons bail. But
prosecuting counsel, Chile Okoroma, requested for time to respond to the
application. He prayed the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody
as the EFCC holding facilities in Abuja and Kano were already overstretched.
Justice
Anyadike consequently remanded the accused persons in prison custody pending
consideration of their bail application and adjourned to September 28, 2015.
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
Wilson Uwujaren
Head,
Media & Publicity
9th
July, 2015
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