The Nigerian Supreme Court in an unanimous decision by a five-member panel, dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal the former lawmaker, who has been in prison custody since 2021, filed to challenge his conviction.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld the judgement that convicted and sentenced the former Chairman of the then House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy probe, Mr. Farouk Lawan, to five years in prison for bribery.
Lawan had among other things, contended that he was not allowed to make a plea of allocutus (plea for leniency) by the trial court before it jailed him.
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 in 2012.
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.
