The Supreme Court has affirmed the five-year jail term handed to a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan by the Court of Appeal.
Lawan was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2021 for accepting a $500,000 bribe from businessman, Femi Otedola, Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd.
In a unanimous judgment on Friday, January 26, a 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 Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In the lead judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro, but read on Friday by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court faulted arguments by Lawan’s lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN) his client’s conviction and sentencing should be set aside because the trial court failed to call for allocutus.
The Supreme Court, in the judgment on the appeal marked: SC/CR/616/2022 held that the failure of the trial court to call for allocutus did not vitiate the trial, conviction, and sentencing
Allocutus is an opportunity given to the criminal defendant convicted of a certain crime to say something in mitigation of punishment before sentence is passed on him
It is not an act of kindness on the part of the court, but a part of criminal proceedings that ought to be performed after conviction before sentencing.
The court found that Lawan’s appeal was without merit, dismissed it, and proceeded to affirm the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Lawan had by his appeal, prayed the Supreme Court 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 Federal Government
Lawan was convicted by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on June 22, 2021, on a three-count charge of soliciting a bribe, agreeing to accept a bribe, and accepting a $500,000 bribe from businessman, Femi Otedola.
The High Court of the FCT, in a June 22, 2021 judgment by Justice Angela Otaluka, sentenced Lawan to seven years on count one; seven years on count two, and five years on count three.
But, in its unanimous judgment, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by the court’s President, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, quashed Lawan’s conviction on counts one and two.
The court held that the prosecution failed to prove both counts of demanding and agreeing to accept a $ 300 million bribe from Otedola.
Justice Dongban-Mensem noted, in the lead judgment, that the investigators did a shoddy job by not analyzing call logs from the telecommunication service provider to ascertain whether or not there were phone conversations between Lawan and Otedola as claimed by the complainant.
She further noted that while Lawan was accused of demanding and agreeing to a $300m bribe from Otedola during phone conversations, it was incumbent on the investigators to obtain the call logs and analyze them.
“There is no convincing evidence to establish counts one and two. There is a big lacuna in the respondent‘s (prosecution’) case against the appellant (Lawan) regarding offenses charged in counts 1 and 2. The offenses were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said.
Justice Dongban-Memsen found that the prosecution (respondent) was only able to prove the third count relating to his accepting bribe of $500,000.
She noted that even the appellant admitted collecting the $500,000 from Otedola.
The judge then acquitted Lawan on counts one and two (on which he was sentenced to seven years per count) but convicted him on count three (on which he was sentenced to five years
The judgment was on the appeal by Lawan, marked: CA/ABJ/CR/495/2021.
Justices Peter Ige (now retired) and Mohammed Mustapha, who were other members of the panel, agreed with the lead judgment.
