Femi Ipaye/Abuja
Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido will mark the Eid-el-Fitri festivities in his home state afterall.
This evening in Abuja, Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court granted him bail in self recognition.
Kolawole also granted bail to Mustapha and Aminu,sons of Lamido and their alleged accomplice, Wada, each in the sum of N25 million and two sureties.
The court also ordered that of the two sureties for each accused, one must be a civil servant not below grade level 16.
The judge also ordered that if one of the sureties is into private business, he must show evidence of tax payment in the last three years and deposit his passport photograph with the court.
Lamido, his sons and Abubakar Wada, were arraigned on a 24-count charge of laundering N1.35billion belonging to the State when he was governor.
They were initially arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Kano, who remanded them in prison without hearing their application for bail.
The application for bail was transferred to Abuja for determination.
Ruling on it, Justice Gabriel Kolawole ordered Lamido to surrender all his travelling documents to the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar.
EFCC specifically accused Lamido of collecting kickbacks from contractors in the state, with the funds allegedly paid into accounts that were managed by his sons.
The bail must be a big respite for the sharp-tongued former governor, charged with money laundering offences in Kano on Thursday. He was remanded in prison custody because the EFCC, the prosecutor declined to accommodate him on grounds that its cells were. congested.
The outlook was bad for him then as there was a clear possibility he was going to spend the two months in Kano jail as the trial judge, Evelyn Anyadike announced she was going on vacation and would only hear the case on 28 September.
But on Monday, Sule and his sons were removed from the prison to make the journey to Abuja, where the bail was given to him and his sons today.
*Updated with more details from the court.