By Stanley Onyekwere, with agency report
A Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has thrown out, for want of merit, the application by two members of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan and Boniface Emenalo, to dismiss bribery charges against them on grounds of insufficient evidence.
The court, ruling on the separate applications, said that the two lawmakers had cases to answer, as there was sufficient evidence linking them to the charges against them.
The court ordered the lawmakers to face trial at the lower court with an order that the matters be decided expeditiously.
Farouk Lawan and erstwhile Chairman and Secretary of a House committee, Boniface Emenalo, were accused of demanding and collecting $620, 000 bribe from an oil magnate, Femi Otedola, to remove his company from the list of those found wanting during the probe into petrol subsidy fraud.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), which filed the charges against the lawmakers, said that they violated the provisions of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission Act.
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