AMINU Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, has lost his appeal at the Supreme Court, challenging the forfeiture of $40,000 to the Federal Government.
The five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, dismissed the appeal, ruling that it lacked merit.
The case relates to Aminu’s conviction for failing to declare the funds at Kano’s Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while traveling to Egypt in 2024. He was initially arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on December 11, 2012, for allegedly declaring only the statutory $10,000 and failing to report the remaining $40,000 on the Customs Currency Declaration Form.
Aminu was charged before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge of failure and false declaration of foreign currency. On July 12, 2015, the court convicted him and ordered that 25 percent of the undeclared funds be forfeited to the Nigerian government.
Unhappy with the ruling, Aminu challenged the matter at the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, seeking to overturn the lower court’s decision. However, on December 7, 2015, the appellate court, in a judgment read by Justice Habeeb Abiru, dismissed the appeal and upheld the Federal High Court’s ruling, resolving all issues raised by the appellant.
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Still dissatisfied, Aminu escalated the matter to the Supreme Court, requesting that his conviction be overturned and the decisions of the lower courts nullified. The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro and read by Justice Abubakar Umar, ruled that the appeal was “doomed to fail” and dismissed it, affirming the concurrent judgments of both lower courts.
The EFCC was represented throughout the legal process by DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, now Acting Zonal Director of the commission’s Benin Directorate, while Chief O E B Offiong, SAN, acted for Aminu.
At the last adjourned date, both parties had adopted their briefs of arguments before the Supreme Court reserved its judgment, which was delivered on Friday, January 16, 2026.
