Former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan was released today, October 22, after serving a five-year sentence at Kuje prison. Lawan was convicted and sentenced to jail in 2021 for receiving a $500,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola during the latter’s sting operation.
At the time, video footage circulated on social media showed Lawan tucking wads of cash bills under his clothing and underneath his headgear.
Lawan was accused of demanding $3 million from Femi Otedola in exchange for removing Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited (Otedola’s old company) from the list of oil companies allegedly engaged in the 2012 petrol subsidy scandal.
He was arrested and then charged with seven charges of bribery by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for accepting a $500,000 bribe from Otedola.
The charge was eventually changed to include three counts. On June 22, 2021, Justice Angela Otaluka of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo convicted Lawan on all three counts and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
Lawan then petitioned the Court of Appeal, which discharged and acquitted the former congressman on two of the three charges on which he had been convicted. The appellate court also lowered his sentence to five years from seven.
The court, however, upheld his conviction on the last remaining offense, for which the lower court imposed a five-year prison sentence.
