Court Fixes New Date For Lamido Fraud Trial
The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled April 1 for the fresh arraignment of former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido and his two sons over an alleged N1.35 billion money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The case also involves two companies linked to the family, Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
The trial judge, Justice Peter Lifu, fixed the date after the defendants failed to appear in court to take their plea.
Their lawyer, Joe Agi, apologised and explained that notice of the hearing reached them late on Thursday, adding that Lamido and his sons live in Kano and could not travel to Abuja on short notice.
During the session, the EFCC counsel, Chile Okoroma, expressed surprise that the defendants were absent despite being served with the notice of the hearing.
He also informed the court that the anti-graft agency had written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, asking that the original trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, now posted to Calabar, be returned to Abuja to continue the case.
The court noted that the request was an administrative matter for the Chief Judge to decide and adjourned the case until April 1.
The charges, first filed in 2015, accuse Lamido and others of laundering funds linked to government contracts during his time as governor between 2007 and 2015.
The case returned to the Federal High Court after the Supreme Court restored the charges earlier this year.
