Judge withdraws from Farouk Lawan’s $620,000 bribery case

Boniface Emenalo (L) and Farouk Lawan (R)

Justice Adebukola Banjoko of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja, on Tuesday withdrew from the $620,000 bribery charges instituted against a former Chairman, House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Mr. Farouk Lawan.

Lawan is being prosecuted along with his secretary in the committee, Boniface Emenalo, by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.

Justice Banjoko voluntarily withdrew from the case on Tuesday and ordered the case file to be returned to the FCT Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Bukar, despite the withdrawal of an application filed by Lawan, in which the lawmaker requested that she quit the case.

The judge said in her ruling that though the application had been withdrawn and the Chief Judge had cleared her of the allegation in Lawan’s petition, it (the allegation) remained a “scandalous challenge” of her integrity.

Lawan’s counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who had filed the application dated October 29, 2014, asking the judge to quit the case, announced the withdrawal of the petition at the Tuesday’s proceedings.

Apart from the application, Lawan had also personally petitioned the FCT Chief Judge, accusing Justice Banjoko of likely bias based on an alleged close relationship between her and the Chairman, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, a proposed witness and the accuser in the case.

Click on ...Punch for more.