By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s Supreme Court has upheld the five years sentence earlier handed to former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, for receiving a bribe of $500,000 from businessman Femi Otedola.
Heritage Times HT reports that Lawan’s appeal sought to set aside the February 24, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sentenced him to a five-year jail term and discharged him on two out of the three counts on the corruption charge brought against him by the Nigerian Government.
In the lead judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro but read by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court held that Lawan’s appeal was without merit and dismissed it.
In a unanimous verdict, the five-member panel affirmed the 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld Lawan’s sentencing to five years in respect of only count three on the three-count charge on which he was tried at the High Court of the Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
It would be recalled that Lawan was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2021 for accepting $500,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola.
