By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, @DrOaikhena, has claimed that an ex-House of Reps member, Farouk Lawan, is now fully qualified to run for president and lead Nigeria.

Verdict

This claim is FALSE.
Citing section 137, subsection 1d and e of the 1999 constitution as amended, these areas state that an ex-convict cannot run for the office of the president in Nigeria, within less than ten years before the date of the election to the office of President he has been convicted.

Full Text

An X user, @DrOaikhena, has claimed that an ex-House of Reps member, Farouk Lawan, is eligible to run for the office of the president and lead Nigeria.

This claim on X garnered over 1k views and many responses.

On 22nd October 2024, a former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, was released from Kuje Prison after serving a five-year sentence for bribery.

His release on Tuesday morning was confirmed by the spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service, FCT Command, Samson Duza.

“Lawan was released this morning after completing his jail term.”

Background

Mr Lawan, a veteran member of the House of Representatives, headed the ad hoc committee of the House that probed the multi-billion-naira fraud in the subsidy scheme during the then-President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012.

As of then, the former lawmaker had earned the moniker, Mr. Integrity, in tribute to his strong anti-corruption bent

In the report issued at the end of its inquiry, the Lawan-led committee indicted Mr. Otedola’s Zenon Oil and Gas Ltd and many other firms.

Specifically, the committee accused Zenon Oil of fraudulently obtaining over $230 million in foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to import petrol under the subsidy scheme but failed to use it for the purpose.

But Mr. Lawan later removed Zenon Oil’s name from the list of indicted firms after receiving $500,000 from Mr. Otedola as the first tranche of the “agreed” $3 million bribe.

Both men later claimed that they gave or received the money as evidence of a bribe against each other.

But Mr Otedola said he reported to the State Security Service (SSS) the alleged move by Mr Lawan to extort him through threats to indict his firms without justification.

The businessman said the SSS asked him to play along. He said the SSS organized a sting operation that got the former legislator captured collecting the bribe from him in a video clip.

Mr Lawan, on his part, insisted that he collected the money as evidence against Mr Otedola, but admitted he did not report to any law enforcement agency.

The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, though a private prosecutor, Adegboyega Awomolo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, had charged Mr. Lawan with the first two counts under section 18(1)(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and the third count under section 17(1)(a) of the same law.

In her judgment delivered on June 22, 2021, the trial judge, Angela Otaluka, of the FCT High Court, convicted Mr. Lawan on all three charges filed by the government.

However, the Court of Appeal, in February 2022, narrowly affirmed Mr Lawan’s conviction after exonerating him of two out of the three counts he was earlier jailed for by the trial court. Consequently, the court reduced the seven years imprisonment to two.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction.

Verification

Responding to questions about the claim, a constitutional lawyer, Barr. Destiny Alozie explained to FACTWATCH that the provisions of the constitution make it impossible for the former lawmaker to run for the office of President.

He referred this Fact Checker to section 137(1d and e) of the 199 constitutions as amended for proper understanding.

Citing the areas in the 1999 constitution, sec.137, subsec1,(d) he is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offense involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever the name called) or for any other offense, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal; or
(e) within less than ten years before the date of the election to the office of President he was convicted

Next presidential election in 2027

As the next general elections come up by 2027, going by the provisions of 137(1d and e) of the constitution, Mr Lawan is ineligible contest for the office of President because he was convicted in 2021, which is not up to ten years as the constitution stipulates.

Conclusion

This claim is FALSE as the constitution states the conditions of which an ex-convict can contest for the office of President in Nigeria.