The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by Aminu Sule Lamido, son of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, and upheld the forfeiture of part of the $40,000 he failed to declare while travelling out of Nigeria.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, unanimously held that the appeal lacked merit and affirmed the concurrent judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Adamu Jauro, as read by Justice Abubakar Umar, ruled that the appeal was “doomed to fail,” thereby sustaining Aminu’s conviction and the forfeiture order made by the lower courts.
The case arose from Aminu’s arrest on December 11, 2012, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport. He was intercepted while travelling to Egypt after allegedly failing to declare $40,000 in his possession on the Nigeria Customs Service Currency Declaration Form, having initially declared only the statutory $10,000.
The EFCC subsequently arraigned him before the Federal High Court in Kano on a one-count charge bordering on failure and false declaration of foreign currency. On July 12, 2015, the trial court found him guilty 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 in Kaduna. 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 Federal High Court, resolving all issues against the appellant.
Still dissatisfied, Aminu approached the Supreme Court, urging it to set aside his conviction and nullify the judgments of the two lower courts. The apex court, however, rejected his arguments and affirmed the earlier decisions.
The EFCC prosecution team was led throughout the trial and appeals by DCE Sa’ad Hanafi, now Acting Zonal Director of the Commission’s Benin Directorate, while Aminu was represented by Chief O.E.B. Offiong, SAN.
Judgment in the appeal, which had been reserved after parties adopted their briefs of argument, was delivered on Friday, January 16, 2026.
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