Supreme Court Affirms Farouk Lawan’s Five-year Jail Term Over $500,000 Bribe

The Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed the five-year imprisonment for Farouk Lawan, a former member of the House of Representatives, by the Court of Appeal.

Lawan was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2021 for accepting a $500,000 bribe from an oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola, Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd.

A five-member panel of Justices of the apex court, in a unanimous judgment on Friday, affirmed the 2022 decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld Lawan’s sentencing to a five-year jail term in respect of only count three on the three-count charge on which he was tried at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In the lead judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro but read by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court dismissed Lawan’s appeal for lacking merit.

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