The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the Seven-year jail term sentence handed the Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Farouk Lawan after he was convicted of corruption.
Delivering a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel of Justices of the apex court, the court affirmed that the appeal of the former lawmaker lacked merit and therefore was worthless.
Lawan upheld the five year –sentence of the former lawmaker in respect of only count three out of initial the three-count charge on which he was tried at the lower court.
Justice John Okoro was the lead jusdge, however, Justice Tijjani Abubakar read the judgement onbehalf of his colleagues.
Lawan was caught on camera where he collected $500, 000 (five hundred thousand dollars) in cash in the residence of business mogul, Femi Otedola in Lagos.
Lawan a four-term member of the House represented Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State.
As the Chairman of the adhoc committee of the House that investigated the subsidy scandal under President Goodluck Jonathan’s government in 2012, Farouk Lawan was an influential member of the House who led the “Integrity Group” that did not just vehemently opposed the Jonathan government, but eventually led the charge that removed Hon. Olubunmi Etteh as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Things took a nose dive for the diminutive Kano federal lawmaker when he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at an FCT High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja. He had demanded a $3million bribe from Otedola to enable him (Lawan) help and remove the name of Otedola’s company, Zenon Oil from the list of the oil companies to be indicted by the adhoc committee of the House the investigated the fuel subsidy scam.
After the lengthy trail, Justice Angela Otaluka of the FCT HIGH Court, Apo in 2021 eventually convicted Lawan and sentenced him to seven year jail term on three counts of corruption and bribery.
At the Appeal Court, however, Lawan’s sentence was reduced to five years as the appellate court freed him on two out of the three count charges.
