Henry Ojelu & Maduabuchi Nmeribeh

The trial of former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, along with his two sons over money laundering charges raises questions on whether the trial is a pure political intrigue or a real criminal prosecution

In the last few months, the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, appeared to have woken up from its sleep. The commission which many believed had lost its bite has suddenly bounced back with the arrest and prosecution of high profile politicians who hitherto were untouchable. One of such arrests is that of the former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, along with his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha. But the allegations against Lamido and his sons are not new.

Back in 2012 when Aminu was arrested at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport for allegedly laundering about $40,000, the EFCC launched an intense investigation into the administration of Lamido. Months after the investigation was concluded, the EFCC revealed how the Lamidos siphoned the state treasury into their personal and company account. The allegations remained public knowledge but nothing more was done by the EFCC to pursue the matter. Alhaji Lamido’s immunity then as a governor also ensured that the file remained locked up somewhere in the dusty archives of the EFCC.

•Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha in court

The Lamido’s case file was however dusted up penultimate week when the commission arraigned both father and sons before a Federal High Court sitting in Kano on a 28-count charges bordering on money laundering, abuse of public office and subtle bribery, amounting to N1.351 billion. The commission alleged that a major construction company, Dantata and Sawoe, paid N1.3 billion as kickback into the accounts of companies owned by Governor Lamido and his sons.

The commission particularly alleged that between 2007, when Mr. Lamido assumed office, and now, Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company was awarded contracts amounting to N13.5 billion. Payments for the contracts were made by the state government to the construction firm through five banks – Zenith, Access, Diamond, Sterling and UBA. Within the same period, according to EFCC, Dantata and Sawoe paid out over N1.3 billion into the accounts of companies in which the governor and his sons — Mustapha and Aminu –have interests, specifically the accounts of Bamaina Holdings Limited where Sule Lamido is sole signatory and Speeds International Limited. Both accounts are domiciled in Unity Bank Plc.

It is also the contention of the EFCC that over N832 million was paid into these two accounts by the construction giant, while the balance of N488 million was paid into the family’s account at Access Bank. To disguise the nature of the payments, EFCC alleged that the construction company raised cheques in favour of Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Speeds International Limited and Gada Construction Limited. The cheques raised in the names of Bamaina Company Limited and Gada Construction Limited were however cleared into Bamaina Holdings account in Unity Bank even when Gada Construction Limited had no account in Unity Bank. The third party cheques amounted to over N500 million.

•Lamorde: EFCC boss

EFCC also claimed that it found that there was no authorization, power of attorney or indemnity provided by the companies before the third party cheques were cleared. The were also allegations that kickbacks were paid to some traditional rulers in the state by the same construction company. Those payments are also being investigated by the anti- graft agency.

Danata and Sawoe was not the only construction company that allegedly returned ‘favours’ to the Lamido family for contracts awarded to them. The EFCC charge also claims that AG Farero, a construction firm which won the contract for the construction of the state secretariat, initially for N6.66 billion, but later for N9.3 billion, after an upward review, sub-contracted jobs to Speeds International and Bamaina Aluminium Company Limited. Both companies are owned by the Lamido family.

Other companies owned or promoted by Governor Lamido and his children also allegedly milked the state in sweetheart contract deals.

Aminu was particularly accused of receiving over N1 billion from several Jigawa State establishments and agencies through his company, Saby Integrated Project Limited, between 2010 and 2013. The company was awarded contract for the installation of street lights in various locations by the State Ministry of Transport to the tune of over N730 million. The state Universal Basic Education Board also awarded contracts of N173 million to the company, while the Small Towns Water Agency paid the same company N190 million for three separate contracts.

The ex-governor and his sons has since been granted bail but some political observers believe that there is more than meet the eyes about the trial. Some claim that the trial is a mere political witch hunting of Lamido by those whom he had stepped on in the course of his political career.

Lamido by all means is one of the notable northern politicians of modern Nigeria. He came into politics with the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in the second republic (1978/9 till 1983) which was a reincarnation of the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) of the first republic and created by the late populist leader of the talakawa, Mallam Aminu Kano. The PRP as a progressive or leftist party had members like Abubakar Rimi, Balarabe Musa, Dr. Edward Ikem Okeke, and Chinua Achebe. Abubakar Rimi and Balarabe Musa became governors in Kano and Kaduna respectively. It was the former who brought Lamido into politics.

Lamido later joined the left leaning Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the shortlived Third Republic under Gen. Babangida which was presumably won by Chief MKO Abiola. Sule Lamido was the national secretary of the party while Chief Tony Anenih was the chairman. In the events that followed, the SDP which initially refused to accept anything short of Chief Abiola’s mandate eventually capitulated to and agreed on July 7, 1993 to an unelected Interim National Government in which they would collaborate with the NRC under Hammed Kusamotu and Tom Ikimi.

The 64-year-old former governor joined PDP which is seen as an incarnation of NPN in what many see as a u-turn from his antecedents but was really a politically realistic decision in 1998/99 when only three political parties existed. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, his benefactor, also joined PDP so Lamido followed suit. Having won elections into House of Representatives on the platform of PRP in 1979, Lamido lost the Jigawa governorship election to Saminu Turaki, in 1999 and chose to go with President Olusegun Obasanjo, to the angst of Rimi who had hoped to be picked as Obasanjo’s Vice President.

It was as Minister of Foreign Affairs that Lamido attacked Abubakar Rimi, his erstwhile benefactor, and ingratiated himself fully with Obasanjo. This did not prevent his loss to Saminu Turaki again in 2003 but he won in 2007 and has governed since and has made his impact on good governance in the state. With only a secondary school leaver’s certificate to his name, not much is thought of Lamido’s intellectual depth but his influence with Obasanjo is the major factor that kept him in the permutations for the 2015 elections.

The EFCC investigation into Lamido’s administration is believed to be one of those arsenal used by the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to keep him and his political ambitions in check. This played out especially during crisis in the PDP back in 2013. Lamido who was among the seven PDP governors called G-7 had planned to decamp to the All Progressives Congress, APC. The five governors eventually moved to the APC were former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Ameachi; Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; former Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wammako and former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwanso. Lamido and the impeached Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako who were originally members of the G-7 remained in the PDP.

Originally G-7, consisting of the aforementioned and then Mr. Lamido and Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, the governors staged a walk-out from an August 2013 Special National Convention of PDP, alongside other party stalwarts, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former party Secretary, Sam Jaja and former Kwara Governor, Bukola Saraki.

•Jonathan: Used EFCC tool to retain Lamido’s loyalty

The group formed the “new PDP” immediately. But the five Governors, Messrs Ameachi, Wammako, Ahmed, Nyako and Kwankwanso defected to opposition APC while Messrs Lamido and Babangida, surprisingly, chose to remain in the PDP.

This caused bad blood, leading the Kano State Governor, Mr. Kwankwanso, to accuse Messrs Lamido and Babangida of betraying the other five governors.

Although Lamido had never publicly hinted that the Jonathan’s administration blackmailed him to stay back in the PDP, reliable sources in past government revealed to our correspondent the EFCC case file on him and his sons was one of the tools used.

While the actual trial in yet to commence in court, Lamido has been asserting his innocence to the charges against him and his sons. After spending 72 hours with his two sons in Kano Central Prison, Lamido, in a Sunday Vanguard report, imputed political motives to his incarceration. The former governor claims, he is being persecuted by those who feel that they would not be able to actualise their presidential ambition with him around the political arena.

Speaking through his media aide, Umar Kyari, Lamido drew the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the attempt being made by those he called “my political enemies” to silence him using the instrumentality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He pointed out that it was clear from the outset that there was a grand design to put him away in prison for a long time under the guise of money laundering and sundry charges so as to pave the way for his political enemies to have their way.

The former governor, whose many supporters relocated to the Kano Central Prison where they kept vigil over him and his two sons, said he was determined to prove to Nigerians that he was innocent but was merely being witch-hunted by those who feel threatened by his rising political profile.

A statement by his media aide Kyari said “This current effort to frame and denigrate the former governor of Jigawa State with a view to rubbishing his high performance in office will come to naught at the end of the day. Lamido remains nothing but a scion of accountability and integrity who has always fought on the side of the people, particularly the downtrodden and the vulnerable, since he came into the national political scene.

“He remains unshaken over the trumped-up charges slammed on him by the EFCC knowing that he has not committed any offense to warrant being thrown into the prison over a bailable offense. But the refusal by his traducers to grant him and his sons bail when others charged same day and time for even more grievous offences were admitted to bail speaks volume of the intention and mindset of those who are after him.”

Kyari added: “Nonetheless, Sule Lamido strongly believes that, after being imprisoned several times all in a bid to pave the way for sustained democracy in Nigeria, the current effort by the EFCC and others to humiliate him and his family over the so-called money laundering charges will not break his resolve to continue to fight on the side of the people. It is Lamido’s strong belief that having not committed any offense against the state to warrant being sent to prison, he and his two sons will be freed and vindicated against the wicked plot of their adversaries”.

But speaking to TheNEWS on the issue, elder statesman and former Political Adviser to ex-president Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, disagreed with Lamido’s view, arguing that the case did not start with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. In the views of Yakasai, Lamido’s arrest was not politically motivated.

Alhaji Yakasai said: “You know as much as I do that the beginning of this matter was over the declaration of foreign currency made by his children while leaving the country for a trip oversea. This event took place 15 November last year at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport; and it happened when Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was in power. The matter was later on transferred to the EFCC and in the course of their investigation, some large quantities of funds were found in the account of his two children. Then the EFCC continued with its investigation until recently when they felt that they have enough materials for them to take the matter to court.”

•Yakasai: Lamido’s arrest not political

Yakassai went further: “ I cannot see how the present administration should be blamed for it when everybody knows that the matter started long before the new administration came into being. From what I read, what happened to Alhaji Sule Lamido and his children in the Federal High Court in Kano was just a matter of co-incidence. The matter was brought to the Court presided over by a Judge who would proceed on leave the following day; and the Judge averred that under the circumstance, she cannot consider and rule on the application for bail on the matter since there was no consensus between the Defendant and the prosecutors on this matter. For her or any other person handling the matter as a Judge—such a person most give both parties opportunities to state their case upon which considerations shall be given by the presiding Judge and he will give his ruling on the application one way or the other. In the event, the Judge adjourned that case to 28 September and directed the Defendant to take their application for bail to a Vacation Judge. Now, from the information at my disposal, I have no reason to believe that political consideration played any role in determine the outcome of the situation as at that moment.”

He argued that the EFCC, in this matter, cannot take anybody to detention without a warrant issued by a Court of competent authority. In his words: “I read in the newspaper, EFCC had felt that they had no facility in Kano that can accommodate a person of the status of Alhaji Sule Lamido and his children—then their only option to accommodate them at Kano Central Prison. Then, afterwards, they were taken to Abuja where a Vacation Judge handled the application. Then, the fact that Sule Lamido was granted bail on personal recognition indicates to me that political consideration cannot be inferred in the whole matter. Then, if at all Sule Lamido’s arrest and trial was politically motivated—it turns out to be in his favour, not against him. In all honesty, this will be my conclusion, if I were to be in his position”.

Also speaking on the issue, Prince Ajayi Memaiyetan, a Kano based journalist and political analyst said it would be improper to say that Sule Lamido was being persecuted because he has an ambition to become Nigeria’s president is not enough reason for him to be tried and prosecuted if there are allegations against him.

•Memaiyetan: Lamido should have been placed under house arrest

In his words, “I would not want to make any pre-judicial commentary on the on-going trial of Sule Lamido. That he has plans to become the president of Nigeria cannot exempt him from trial or cannot prejudge him whether he was the sole signatory to the cheques of his private company he was running while in office until it is established before the Court; if found guilty, he should not be made a sacred cow. The media should be careful not to conduct trial by the Press and as such, the trial of his children must be taken on their merit. I must say, however, that it was not proper to have remanded them in Kano Central Prison. They would have placed them on house arrest since Sule Lamido himself has a house here in Kano.”

But Lamido’s political associate and former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Jigawa state, Hon. Aliyu Mohammed Tukur Gantsa insisted that the presidency intentionally sent Lamido to prison simply to embarrass him. According to him, “What happened to Alhaji Sule Lamido is nothing new to him. He has been persecuted in such manner in the past. You remember that the same Muhammadu Buhari arrested and detained him in 1983 for just no cause. I must tell you that this very event is going to be another victory for Lamido because people know he performed creditably while in office as Governor of Jigawa State. Now, they arrested him, detained and humiliated him for N1.3 billion they alleged he appropriated. What is N1.3 billion compared to other cases such as that of Murtala Nyako? Everybody knows that the arrest of Sule Lamido was politically motivated because they know Lamido is the only politician the North can present in 2019. He is the only politician that can challenge President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC. It is an open secret that the presidency has a hand in Lamido’s humiliation; if not, why did they deny him bail and took him to Kano Central Prison?” Hon. Aliyu added that the arrest and detention of Sule Lamido will not deter him from presenting himself to Nigerians come 2019 presidential election.