The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of former Nigerian lawmaker Farouk Lawan, sentencing him to five years in prison for soliciting and accepting a $500,000 bribe.
Lawan, the former chairman of a House of Representatives committee investigating fuel subsidy fraud in 2012, had appealed his sentence by the Federal Capital Territory High Court. However, in a unanimous ruling, a five-judge Supreme Court panel dismissed the appeal as lacking merit.
The judges rejected Lawan’s contention that the failure to allow him to plead for leniency before sentencing should invalidate the punishment. Justice Inyang Okoro wrote the decision, which was delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar.
Farouk Lawan was originally convicted in 2021 on three counts related to demanding $3 million in bribes from oil magnate Femi Otedola, the owner of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. Otedola had alerted authorities and collaborated in an undercover sting operation.
The High Court sentenced Lawan to seven years on each of the three counts, to be served concurrently. On appeal last year, the Court of Appeal threw out two of the charges but upheld the count related to accepting the $500,000 portion of the bribe. The appeals court reduced his sentence to five years.
The Supreme Court ruling brings to an end Lawan’s legal maneuvering to avoid punishment. The case represents a rare victory against official corruption in Nigeria. Lawan was captured on video stuffing bribe money into his pockets after completing his investigation, unaware he was being recorded.
The unanimous rejection of Lawan’s appeal serves to uphold the integrity of the Nigerian legal system in a closely-watched case seen as an important test. Lawan, first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999, showed no reaction when Friday’s verdict was announced in court. He has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2021.
Source S’Court affirms 5-year jail term for Lawan over $3m bribery saga published in Vanguard