The Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, yesterday ordered former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, to be remanded in prison custody till September 28.
Also remanded along with them is one Aminu Wada Abubakar with whom they were arraigned on a 28-count charges bordering on corruption and money laundering, totalling N1.351 billion.
While the Lamidos will be in prison from yesterday, two other former governors, Mr. Ihedi Ohakim (Imo) and Alhaji Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) began their battle for bail. The duo was remanded in prison custody on Wednesday by the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, where they were being tried for defrauding the state.
The court, however, admitted Ohakim, who is being tried for allegedly stealing $2.29 million, to bail in the sum of N270 million. Nyako is expected to begin his battle for bail before Justice Evoh Chukwu.
While trying Lamido and his sons, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ordered the accused persons, who were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for receiving N1.35 billion bribe from a government contractor, to be taken to prison custody. The accused persons were also arraigned alongside four companies in which the Lamido family allegedly has interest. The companies are Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminum Limited and Speeds International Limited.
According to the charge sheet, Lamido allegedly 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 18thDecember, 2008 within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did convert an aggregate sum of N124, 649, 915 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.”
But when the charges were read to the quartet, they pleaded not guilty. The defence counsel, Mr. Offiong Offiong (SAN), told the court that he had filed an application for bail and urged the court to grant his request. Prosecuting counsel, Chile Okoroma, objected to the request, seeking more 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.
After considering the submissions of the two counsels, Justice Anyadike remanded the quartet in prison custody pending the determination of their bail application and adjourned further hearing in the case till September 28.
However, the arraignment of Lamido and his children was heralded by drama as supporters of the former governor threatened to disrupt the court session.
The detachment of policemen at the court had a hectic time before they could restore order. The travails of the Lamidos began in 2012 when one of his sons, Aminu, was arrested by EFCC operatives at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, for failing to declare $40,000 found on him. He was prosecuted and convicted; with 50 per cent of the undeclared sum forfeited to the Federal Government.
But a probe into the source of the funds led investigators to discover a web of corruption and money laundering involving members of the former governors and their cronies. Also yesterday, the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, granted Ohakim bail in the sum of N270 million. The EFCC is prosecuting Ohakim over alleged N270 million fraud allegedly perpetrated in 2008 while he was in office.
The court also ordered Ohakim to produce a surety resident in Abuja as part of the bail conditions. Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in his ruling on the bail application filed by Ohakim through his counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) also ordered the EFCC to submit the passport and other travel documents seized from the former governor to the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court. Earlier, while arguing the bail application, Uche urged the court to grant his client’s prayers. He said his client, whose passport had been seized by the EFCC, had remained faithful to the bail conditions granted him by the anti-graft agency.
The prosecuting counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, however, opposed the bail application. He said rather than granting bail to the accused person, the court should grant an accelerated hearing.
The judge, in his ruling, noted that the accused person had placed sufficient materials before the court to warrant granting him bail. The EFCC had, on Wednesday, arraigned Ohakim on a three-count charge bordering on fraud, including making cash payment of $2.29 million (N270 million) for a property in Asokoro, Abuja.
The prosecution also accused the former governor of collaborating with Tweenex Consociates H.D. Ltd. to conceal the ownership of the property by drafting an agreement portraying him as a tenant in the property.
Ohakim, who was governor of Imo State between May 2007 and May 2001, was also accused of failing to declare the property as part of his assets while under EFCC arrest in November 2008. The offences were allegedly committed in 2008 in violation of section 15(1) (d) and section 14(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, respectively.
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