The Supreme Court will on Friday deliver judgment in the appeal filed by Aminu Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, challenging his conviction over the false declaration of $40,000 at an airport.
Aminu was arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on December 11, 2012, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while travelling to Cairo, Egypt.
He had declared $10,000 on the mandatory currency declaration form submitted to the Nigeria Customs Service but was allegedly found to be carrying a total of $50,000 in cash.
He was subsequently arraigned on February 4, 2013, before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge of false declaration of foreign currency, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act.
The charge stated that Aminu falsely declared $10,000 to Customs while transporting $50,000 out of the country, an offence punishable under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act.
The charge read: “That you, Aminu Sule Lamido, on or about the 11th day of December, 2012, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, while transporting in cash the sum of $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars only) from Nigeria to Cairo, Egypt, falsely declared to the Nigeria Customs Service the sum of $10,000 (ten thousand dollars only) instead of the said sum of $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars only), as required under Section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, Cap F34, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and Section 2(3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 2(5) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011.”
On July 12, 2015, the Federal High Court convicted him and ordered the forfeiture of 25 per cent of the undeclared sum to the Federal Government.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Aminu appealed to the Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna, seeking to have the conviction overturned.
However, in a judgment delivered on December 7, 2015, and read by Justice Habeeb Abiru, the appellate court dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the trial court.
Still dissatisfied, Aminu approached the Supreme Court, urging the apex court to set aside the judgments of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
At the last hearing, counsel to the parties adopted their written briefs of argument, after which the Supreme Court reserved judgment.
The apex court is expected to deliver its verdict on Friday, January 16, 2026.
The case was prosecuted by EFCC counsel, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, now the Acting Zonal Director of the commission’s Benin Directorate, while Chief O. E. B. Offiong (SAN) represented Aminu.
