Ex-lawmaker Farouk Lawan regains freedom after serving five years jail term for receiving bribe from Otedola 

 

Former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, has been released from Kuje Prison after serving a five-year sentence for seeking bribe.

 

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,” Duza was quoted by Punch on Tuesday.

 

Lawan was convicted in 2021 for demanding and accepting a $500,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola, then Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd.

 

 

The bribe was part of an attempt to remove Otedola’s company from a list of firms implicated by Lawan’s committee investigating fuel subsidy fraud. Unknown to Lawan, Otedola had reported the bribe request to the DSS.

 

In January, the Supreme Court upheld Lawan’s five-year prison sentence, dismissing his appeal.

 

The court’s decision followed a 2022 ruling by the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed his conviction on count three of the three-count charge against him.

 

The lead judgment, delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, ruled that Lawan’s appeal was without merit.