The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has
asked the supreme court to nullify the ruling of the appeal court which
discharged Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, of the money laundering
charges against him.
In a statement on Tuesday, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC head of
media and publicity, said the appeal court should have transferred the case
rather than discharging Lamido of the crime.
Lamido, his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, were standing
trial on a 37-count amended charge of money laundering filed against them in
2015.
Other defendants in the case are Aminu Abubakar, business
associate to the former governor, and four companies – Bamaina Company Nigeria
Limited, Bamaina Aluminium Limited, Speeds International Limited and Batholomew
Darlington Agoha.
The former governor, who governed Jigawa between 2007 and
2015, had allegedly abused his position by laundering money received as
kickbacks from companies awarded contracts by the state government under his
administration.
In September 2022, Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge,
rejected the no-case submission filed by the defendants.
Ojukwu asked the defendants to open their case and Lamido
headed to the appellate court to appeal the matter.
On July 25, the court of appeal discharged the former
governor and his sons of the charges against them.
“In a notice of appeal filed at the supreme court and dated
July 31, 2023, the EFCC is asking the apex court to set aside the whole
decision of the court of appeal and order a return of the case to the trial
court to continue and conclude same, on the grounds that the appellate court
erred in law when it discharged the respondents,” the statement by EFCC reads.
“Among the four grounds of the appeal is the contention by
the appellant that the court of appeal erred in law when it held that case was
wrongly commenced in the Abuja division of the federal high court instead of
Kano and proceeded to strike out the charge and discharge the appellants.
“Contrary to the decision of the appellate court, the
appellant contends that section 98(1) of the ACJA, 2015 confers on the chief
judge of the federal high court the power to transfer a case from one court to
another where the transfer of the case will promote the ends of justice or will
be in the interest of the public peace.
“According to the
appellant, the record of the appeal or evidence before the court below showed
that the instant case was commenced in the Kano judicial division of the
federal high court but was transferred to Abuja for security reasons.”
‘CHIEF JUDGE CAN TRANSFER CASES’
The anti-graft agency maintained that the chief judge of the
high court has the power to transfer a case from one judicial division to
another.
“The power of transfer conferred on the chief judge of the
federal high court by section 98(1) of the administration of criminal justice
act, 2015 is not limited to transfer of a case from one court to another within
a judicial division but extends to power to transfer a case from one judicial
division to another where such transfer will promote the ends of justice or
will be in the interest of public peace,” the EFCC added.
“There was also
evidence and or proof of evidence before the court that some of the elements of
the offences for which the respondents and others were charged occurred in
Abuja.
“The appellant further avers that the “proper order to make
pursuant to sections 15 and 23 of the court of appeal act cap. C36 laws of the
federation of Nigeria 2004 and section 22 of the federal high court act cap.
F12 laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004 were to have transferred the case to
the Kano judicial division of the federal high court instead of striking out
the charge and discharging the appellants.”
”The EFCC also asserts that the appellate court’s overlook
of the failure by the respondents to insert the names of other parties in their
notice of appeal was a grievous error, as order 7 rule 2(1) of the court of
appeal rules 2021 states that “all appeals shall be by way of rehearing and
shall be brought by notice of appeal which shall set forth the grounds of
appeal, the exact nature of the relief sought and the names and addresses of
all parties affected by the appeal.
“The said unilateral and arbitrary exclusion of some of the
parties in the notice of appeal by the respondents without the leave of the
court is not a mere irregularity but a fundamental vice which rendered the
notice of appeal incompetent and invalid”.
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