The Supreme Court on Friday upheld decisions of the lower courts committing former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan to jail term
A Federal Capital Territory High Court had sentenced Lawan to seven years imprisonment for receiving a $500,000 bribe from billionaire Femi Otedola while serving as the chairman of the House’s ad-hoc committee investigating the fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.
The trial judge, Angela Otaluka, held that Lawan demanded $3m and received $500,000 from Otedola in 2012 to remove Otedola’s oil company, Zenon Oil and Gas, from the list of firms indicted for fraud in the fuel subsidy regime.
She also held that Lawan was guilty of all three counts of corruption and bribery.
Unsatisfied, Lawan approached the appellate court where his jail term was reduced from seven to five years but approached the apex court urging it to set aside the judgments of the lower court.
Reading the lead judgment, Justice Tijani Abubakar upheld the decision of the appeal court and dismissed the appeal.
