S’Court affirms ex-lawmaker, Farouk Lawan’s jail term

The Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed an appeal by a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, against the judgments of the lower court which imprisoned him.

A Federal Capital Territory High Court had sentenced Lawan to seven years imprisonment for receiving a $500,000 bribe 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 Femi 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.

Not satisfied, Lawan approached the appellate court where his jail term was reduced from seven to five years.

Lawan approached the apex court, urging it to set aside the judgments of the lower courts.

Reading the lead judgment, Justice Tijani Abubakar upheld the decision of the appeal court and dismissed the appeal.

In 2018, businessman, Otedola, accused the former House of Representatives’ member of demanding a $500,000 bribe from him to remove his company, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the list of oil companies allegedly involved in fuel subsidy fraud.

Standing as a witness at a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja in 2021, Otedola said, Lawan removed his company from the list of indicted oil companies after he collected the money, adding that he was expected to pay a balance of $2.5m to the lawmaker.

He said the money was given to him by the Department of State Services to set a trap for Lawan after he wrote a petition against him.

Otedola said he petitioned the DSS immediately Lawan demanded the bribe.

However, the affirmation by the Supreme Court has set social media agog with several X users criticising the lawmaker, stressing that the jail term should have been longer than pronounced.

These users had criticised the lawmaker for what they described as greed for his involvement in a bribery case.

An X user, Dr Tim Faden, tweeting from Manindemirrow2, wrote, “Perhaps, if only Farouk Lawan had suppressed his greed then, and decided to do right to Nigerian people. Maybe the present hardships arising from the fraudulent fuel subsidy regime wouldn’t be a topical issue now.”

Another user, @SamsonOB247, tweeting from @samsonob247, wrote, “How can this guy be jailed for only five years for this amount of money? I think this country is something else.”