The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld the judgement that convicted and sentenced the former Chairman of the then House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy probe, Mr. Farouk Lawan, to five years in prison for bribery. The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal the former lawmaker, who has been in prison custody since 2021, filed to challenge his conviction. Lawan had among other things, contended that he was not allowed to make a plea of allocutus (plea for leniency) by the trial court before it jailed him. However, in its lead judgement that was prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro but read on Friday by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the Supreme Court said it was “crystal clear that failure of the trial court to call for allocution, did not vitiate the sentence passed on the Appellant.” It will be recalled that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Apo had on June 22, 2021, sentenced the former lawma...