Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, has lost his appeal at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the forfeiture of $40,000 to the Federal Government. A five-member panel, led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, dismissed the appeal on Friday for lacking merit.
The case stems from Aminu’s 2024 attempt to travel to Egypt with $40,000 in cash, exceeding the statutory $10,000 limit he initially declared at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him for failure and false declaration of foreign currency.
Aminu was convicted by the Federal High Court in Kano on July 12, 2015, which ordered him to forfeit 25 percent of the undeclared funds. His subsequent appeal to the Court of Appeal in Kaduna was dismissed on December 7, 2015, with the appellate court upholding the lower court’s decision.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, affirmed the concurrent rulings of the two lower courts. EFCC lawyer DCE Sa’ad Hanafi handled the prosecution across all court levels, while Chief O E B Offiong, SAN, represented Aminu.
