A federal high court in Abuja has fixed April 1 for the fresh arraignment of Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa state, over alleged N1.35 billion fraud.
Lamido is to be arraigned alongside his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, in a case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Peter Lifu, justice of the federal high court in Abuja, fixed the date on Friday after the defendants failed to appear in court for their scheduled arraignment.
Joe Agi, their counsel and a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), apologised for their absence, saying the defendants were informed about the court sitting only on Thursday evening.
Agi told the court that Lamido and his sons reside in Kano and could not make it to Abuja due to the short notice.
The lawyer, however, assured the court that the defendants would be present on the next adjourned date to take their plea.
But Chile Okoroma, counsel to the EFCC, said the commission was surprised that the defendants failed to appear in court despite being served with the hearing notice.
Okoroma said the commission had written to John Tsoho, chief judge of the federal high court, requesting that the former trial judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, who was transferred to Calabar, be returned to Abuja to continue the case.
Lifu said the request was an administrative matter for the chief judge to determine before adjourning the case to April 1.
The EFCC had, in 2015, filed a 27-count charge of money laundering against Lamido, his two sons and their companies — Bamaina Holdings Ltd and Speeds International Ltd — over the alleged diversion of N1.35 billion.
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The anti-graft agency accused Lamido of abusing his office between 2007 and 2015 by allegedly laundering funds received as kickbacks from state government contracts.
During the trial, the EFCC called more than 16 witnesses before closing its case.
The defendants subsequently filed a no-case submission, arguing that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to warrant them opening their defence.
In November 2022, Ojukwu dismissed the application and ordered the defendants to enter their defence.
However, in July 2023, the court of appeal ruled that the federal high court in Abuja lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and discharged the defendants.
The EFCC challenged the ruling at the supreme court of Nigeria.
In January 2026, the apex court set aside the appellate court’s decision and ordered that the case be returned to the federal high court for continuation of trial, holding that the defendants had a case to answer.
