The Supreme Court has affirmed the five-year jail term handed to Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives by the Court of Appeal over his acceptance of a $500,000 bribe from business mogul, Femi Otedola. In an unanimous judgment on Friday by a five-member panel which upheld the 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal and dismissed Lawan’s appeal against the judgment of the lower court over his five year prison sentence.
The judgment read by Justice Tijani Abubakar said, “It is crystal clear that the failure of the trial court to call for allocutus does not affect the sentence passed on the appellant. This issue is resolved against the appellant. I find no merit in this appeal.
“It is hereby dismissed by me and affirmed the judgment of the court below which affirmed the conviction and the sentence of the appellant to five years imprisonment for count three on the charge. The appeal is hereby dismissed.”
Recall that in 2012 Lawan, while serving as the Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating fuel subsidy fraud demanded $3 million from Otedola to remove his oil company, Zenon Oil and Gas from the list of firms indicted for fraud.
Otedola gave Lawan $500,000 and recorded the transaction which resulted in Lawan’s arrest and conviction.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court sentenced Lawan to 7 years imprisonment but unsatisfied with the judgment, Lawam approached the appellate court to reduce his jail term to five years.