The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, to reappear before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to face trial over an alleged $500,000 bribery case pending against him.
In a judgment on Tuesday, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed Lawan’s appeal for lacking in merit.
The appellate court upheld the October 17, 2019 ruling by Justice Angela Otaluka of the High Court of the FCT, rejecting Lawan’s no-case submission.
Justice Peter Ige, while delivering the verdict said: “I have also read the records of appeal, particularly the evidence of prosecution witnesses one to five (PW1 to PW5), the ruling of the High Court and the argument of parties to this appeal. I am of the firm view that the review of the evidence by the lower court was not slanted in favour of the prosecution against the appellant.
“The lower court was expected to be brief in its analysis of the evidence at the stage of the no-case submission.
In any event, what calls for examination on a no-case submission is whether there is any evidence from the prosecution, no matter how slant, linking the defendant with the commission of the offences for which he was charged, and whether or not the evidence linking the defendant has been discredited during cross-examination.
“The lower court was right in its decision, calling on the appellant to enter his defence.”
Lawan is being prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly collecting $500,000 as part of a $3 million bribe.
The ex-lawmaker was alleged to have demanded money to facilitate the removal of Femi Otedola’s company, Zenon Oil, from the list of firms indicted by the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee which probed fuel subsidy abuse in 2012, which Lawan chaired.
