You Have A Case To Answer”, Supreme Court Tells Sule Lamido, Sons Over Alleged Money Laundering

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Supreme Court on Friday January 16 , 2026  ordered the retrial of the alleged money laundering and contract splitting involving  former Governor of Jigawa state Sule Lamido  and his two sons.

The Source reports that Lamido and sons are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a 37-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering and contract splitting to the tune of over N1.3 billion.

According to the EFCC, Lamido and his sons who are facing trial before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court Abuja, committed the offences between 2007 and 2015 when Lamido was the Governor of Jigawa state.

The Commission accused the former Governor of receiving over N 1. 35 billion in kickbacks from contractors that handled projects for the Jigawa State Government.

The  Federal High Court  had earlier dismissed the no-case submission filed by the Lamidos ,and instead, ordered them to enter their defences for the continuation of the trial.

But dissatisfied with the High Court’s ruling, Lamido and his  children approached the Court of Appeal which subsequently   overturned the lower Court’s ruling on the grounds that the trial court sitting in Abuja Division ought not to have assumed jurisdiction over the matter being that the alleged offences were committed in Jigawa state.

But ,in a unanimous ruling the Supreme Court’s panel of five Judges led by Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar, upheld the appeal filed by the anti-graft Commission against the Court of Appeal’s earlier verdict.

The Supreme Court Justices held that the EFCC’S appeal was meritorious, and, therefore, directed that the defendants – Lamido and his sons  open their defence in the case before the Federal High Court Abuja.

The Supreme Court also directed that all the earlier charges against the defendants be restored.