The fresh arraignment of the former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, on alleged N1.3 billion corruption charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has again been aborted.
Lamido, alongside his two sons, Aminu Lamido and Mustapha Lamido, who allegedly committed the fraud with their father through fictitious contract awards, were to be docked on April 1, but the arraignment could not hold despite the presence of all the accused persons in court.
The arraignment on March 13 suffered the same fate due to the absence of all the defendants in court, occasioned by the late service of the trial notice on them.
However, at Wednesday’s proceedings, after Lamido and his sons had been put in the dock for their plea to be taken, the EFCC objected to the fresh arraignment of the accused persons.
Chile Okoroma, a senior advocate of Nigeria who appeared for the EFCC, objected to a fresh arraignment because such would amount to a violation and confrontation of the Supreme Court order.
He drew the attention of Justice Peter Lifu to the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on January 16, 2026, to the effect that Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who started the trial in 2015 and had gone halfway before her transfer to the Calabar division of the Court, should try the case to conclusion.
Okoroma said that the EFCC had written to the Chief Judge of the Court, Justice John Tsoho, for a fiat to bring Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu back from Calabar to Abuja to resume the trial as ordered by the Supreme Court.
He then pleaded with Justice Peter Lifu to adjourn the matter to await the reaction of the chief judge, adding that he would not want the time of the court to be wasted on the fresh arraignment.
The EFCC counsel recalled that his client had called 17 witnesses who testified against the accused persons before closing its case for the accused persons to open their defense.
Following no objection from Joe Agi, SAN, who represented the accused persons, Justice Peter Lifu fixed April 30 to await the reaction of the Chief Judge to the EFCC request.
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 N1.3 billion allegedly siphoned from the state in a money laundering scheme.
Lamido and his co-defendants allegedly committed the offences during his time as the governor of the state.
The EFCC said Lamido abused his office between 2007 and 2015 by laundering funds received as kickbacks from state government contracts.
Apart from the Lamidos, other defendants are their companies, Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd.
After EFCC had called more than 17 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 defence in November 2022.
Lamido, 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.
The Court of Appeal held that the trial should have been conducted in Jigawa State, where the alleged offences occurred.
However, in August 2023, EFCC proceeded to the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the Court of Appeal 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.
The Supreme Court ordered that the matter be returned to the Federal High Court for continuation of trial.
