$500,000. Otedola Bribe: Supreme Court Affirms Farouk Lawan's Five-Year Sentence

L-R Farouk Lawan and Femi Otedola

The Supreme Court upholds Farouk Lawan's five-year prison sentence

Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives, received a five-year prison sentence from the Court of Appeal, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Lawan was sentenced to prison on Tuesday, January 22, 2021, following his conviction for bribing billionaire Femi Otedola during the 2012 fuel subsidy investigation.

Lawan presided over the House of Representatives' ad hoc committee that was looking into the multibillion-naira gasoline subsidy that former President Goodluck Jonathan had implemented.

Lawan was charged by Otedola with extorting $3 million from Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, his company, in order to have it removed from the list of businesses under investigation.

A five-member panel of the supreme court unanimously rejected Lawan's appeal and upheld the appeals court's decision in their judgment on Friday, January 26.

Judge John Okoro wrote the lead judgment, which Justice Tijjani Abubakar read on Friday. The apex count determined that Lawan's appeal lacked merit and dismissed it.

However, in its lead judgement that was prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro but read on Friday by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the Supreme Court said it was “crystal clear that failure of the trial court to call for allocution, did not vitiate the sentence passed on the Appellant.”

It will be recalled that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Apo had on June 22, 2021, sentenced the former lawmaker to seven years in prison.

Trial Justice Angela Otaluka, found the four-term lawmaker for Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State, guilty of demanding an aggregate sum of $ 3million from Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Chief Femi Otedola, to give his company a clean bill of health in the fuel subsidy probe the House of Reps initiated on 2012.

The trial court held that the Defendant acted in breach of section 17 (1) (a), section 8(1) (a) (b) (ii), and section 23 (i) of the Corrupt practices and other Related Offences Act, 2000, and committed an offence punishable under section 8 (1) 17 (1) and 23(3) of the same Act.

The court said it was satisfied that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, successfully established a criminal case against the Defendant, even as it convicted him on all the three-count charges that was preferred against him.

Whereas the Defendant was handed 7 years jail term on counts 1 and 2 of the charge, the court sentenced him to 5 years on count 3.

Justice Otaluka held that the sentence would run concurrently.