by Muhammad Ahmad,
A federal court has ordered a former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha, accused of fraud, to be remanded in prison custody in Kano till September 28.
The former governor was arraigned on Thursday alongside his children for receiving N1.35 billion kickback from a government contractor.
The money was paid into accounts controlled by the governor and his sons.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, accused the trio of money laundering, amongst other charges.
They were due for arraignment Wednesday, but the court appearance was rescheduled to Thursday.
Security was stepped up around the court vicinity in Kano ahead of the hearing Thursday.
Delivering her judgement, Justice Evelyn Anyadike ruled that the four accused persons be remanded in a Kano Prison Custody because the EFCC said they lacked enough facilities to accommodate them.
She rejected the pleas of defense counsel, Effiong Effiong, SAN, that the accused by kept at EFCC custody, saying the commission had complained of adequate facilities.
Twenty eight-count charge bordering on a number of alleged breach of trust by Sule Lamido, Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido and one Aminu Wada Abubakar, was read in the court.
The case involved N1.351 billion.
The judge ruled that the accused persons be remanded pending the hearing of their bail applications.
Earlier, the defense counsel, Mr. Effiong had argued that remanding the accused persons in prison will amount to trampling on their fundamental human rights.
He pleaded they be sent to EFCC facilities.
However, the counsel to EFCC, Chile Okoroma, objected to the plea saying their EFCC facilities were full to capacity both in Kano and Abuja.
The case was adjourned to 28 September for ruling on bail application.
There was pandemonium in court between those supporting Mr. Lamido and those against, leading police to fire into the air to disperse the crowd.
