A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 1, 2026, for the fresh arraignment of former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and his two sons in the N1.3 billion corruption charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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Justice Peter Lifu fixed the new date on Friday following the absence of the former governor and his sons in court to take their plea.
Lamido and his two sons, Aminu Lamido and Mustapha Lamido, were initially arraigned for allegedly committing fraud through fictitious contract awards.
Following the inability of the arraignment to hold, their counsel, Joe Agi, SAN, apologized to the court for the defendants not being in court, explaining that information about the trial came late, just a day before.
Agi noted that the former governor and his children are residents of Kano and could not make it to the court because of the distance and the lateness of the notice of hearing.
The senior lawyer then undertook to produce the accused persons on the adjourned date to face their trial.
According to counsel for the EFCC, Chile Okoroma, SAN, the commission had written a letter to the Chief Judge of the court, Justice John Tsoho, demanding that the initial trial judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, now in Calabar following her transfer, be brought back to Abuja for the trial of the defendants.
Justice Lifu, after listening to lawyers in the matter, noted that the issue of the EFCC letter was an administrative one and would be determined by the Chief Judge.
The trial judge then fixed April 1 for arraignment. The EFCC had in 2015 charged Lamido, his two sons, and their companies before the Federal High Court in Abuja on 27 counts of money laundering involving N1.35 billion allegedly siphoned from the state in a money-laundering scheme.
Lamido and his co-defendants were said to have committed the offences during his time as the governor of the state, allegedly abusing office between 2007 and 2015 to launder funds received as kickbacks from state government contracts, according to the commission.
Apart from the Lamidos, other defendants are their companies, Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
After the EFCC had called more than 16 witnesses and closed its case, the defendants filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to require them to open their defence.
But trial judge Ijeoma Ojukwu dismissed the submission and ordered them to enter their defence in November 2022.
Lamido then went on appeal against the ruling, and in July 2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the no-case submission and ruled that the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked territorial jurisdiction to sit on the case in the first place.
Dissatisfied, the EFCC in August 2023 approached the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.
The Supreme Court on January 16, 2026, set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal that discharged Sule Lamido and his sons, Mustapha and Aminu, of money-laundering charges.
A five-member panel of the apex court handed down the decision in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Abubakar Umar, holding that the defendants had a case to answer and ordering that the matter be returned to the Federal High Court for continuation of trial.
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