The trial of Alhaji
Sule Lamido, former Jigawa governor, who is being prosecuted on a 27-count
charge alongside his two sons Aminu Sule Lamido and Mustapha Sule Lamido and
two others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, began on
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High
Court sitting in Abuja, with the EFCC presenting four witnesses.
The witnesses who
testified as PW1, PW2, PW3 and PW4 respectively are, Longji Tupkop, a relationship
manager with United Bank of Africa, UBA; Kabir Mashi, regional manager, Unity
Bank Plc, Kano North; Mustapha Baba and Onyiche Agbaghara of Unity Bank Plc and
Keystone Bank.
Tupkop while being
led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Chile Okoroma, stated that, he was in
court to present account statements for one of the bank’s customers: Dantata
and Sawoe Construction Company.
Explaining some of
the transactions that were reflected on the documents between April 23 and 26,
2013, Tupkop told the court that, “the first entry on the 23rd of
April 2013 was a clearing cheque of over N7m (seven million) in favour of
Bamaina Holdings Limited, another cheque of over N7m (seven million naira) in
favour of Speeds International Limited and yet another cheque of over N7m in
favour of Gada Construction.
According to him, the
cheques were returned on the 23rd because they were not confirmed.
“The same sets of
cheques were however paid to all the three companies on the 26th of
April 2013”, Tupkop stated.
The documents of the
account opening package of Dantata and Sawoe were tendered and admitted as
exhibits.
Also testifying,
Mashi, PW2, told the court that, his bank was subpoenaed and that, he was in
court to tender the statement of account and account opening packages of Speeds
International Limited, Bamaina Holdings Limited and Alhaji Sule Lamido.
However, the
admissibility of the document was contested by Joe Agbi, SAN.
In his argument, the
subpoena was specific about which documents to bring.
According to him,
Mashi only brought the application for the reactivation of the account which
presupposes that an account already existed.
“The witness is a ‘special
witness’ subpoenaed by the court to bring certain documents and since all court
orders must be obeyed, the witness must bring the particular documents he was
asked to bring”, argued Agbi
He prayed the court
to discountenance the documents.
Responding, Okoroma
opined that the document is admissible based on its relevance saying,
“relevance governs admissibility”.
He urged the court to
overrule the objection of the defence.
Justice Ademola,
admitted the documents in evidence saying it was relevant and admissible.
PW3, Baba, presented
the account opening package of Alhaji Sule Lamido, while Agbaghara, PW4, presented the statement
of account and account opening package of Dantata and Sawoe Construction
Company.
The documents were
admitted in evidence.
Justice Ademola
adjourned the case to November 24 and 25 for further hearing.
Lamido allegedly
abused his position as governor between 2007 and 2015, by awarding contracts to
companies where he had interest, using his two sons as front.
The former governor
was equally alleged to have collected kickbacks from contractors in the state,
with the funds allegedly paid into accounts that were managed by his sons.
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