Supreme Court Upholds Five-Year Sentence of Former Lawmaker Farouk Lawan

The Supreme Court has upheld the five-year sentence of Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives in Nigeria who was convicted by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in June 2021, on a three-count charge of soliciting a bribe, agreeing to accept a bribe of $500,000 from a businessman, Femi Otedola. 

This upholds the February 24, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sentenced him to a five-year jail term discharging him on two of the three counts bordering on corruption. 

The five-year sentence by the Appellate Court is variation of the seven-year sentence handed down by the trial court. 

In the judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro and read by Justice Tijani Abubakar, the Apex Court Friday dismissed the former Federal lawmaker’s appeal, to upturn his sentencing altogether, for lacking merit. 

Farouk Lawan, who was Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Monitoring of the Fuel Subsidy Regime had demanded the sum of $3million dollars from Mr Otedola to remove among list of defaulting oil companies as captured in the Committee’s report.

But Mr. Lawan eventually got $500,000  Dollars from the businessman as inducement to remove his company’s name from the Committee’s report.

The former lawmaker’s failed attempt to upturn his sentencing therefore means he will serve his jail term.

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