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Farouk Lawan

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Farouk Lawan
Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office
2011–2015
Preceded byYusuf Ahmed Badau
Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office
2007–2011
Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office
2003–2007
Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
In office
1999–2003
Personal details
Born (1962-07-06) 6 July 1962 (age 62)
Shanono Village, Kano State, Nigeria
Political partyNew Nigeria People's Party
Residence(s)Kano, Abuja
OccupationAcademician
ProfessionAcademician

Farouk Muhammad Lawan listen (born 6 July 1962) is a Nigerian politician and four-term (since 1999) member of the House of Representatives for the Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State.

Education and personal life

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Lawan is a graduate of Bayero University in Kano. He is married with four children.[1]

Political career

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A People's Democratic Party (PDP) member, Lawan was elected in 1999, 2003, 2007 and again in 2011, making it 4 times elected member. Lawan was the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance under the former Speaker Aminu Bello Masari.[2] He identifies his legislative interests as "Appropriation, Information and Education".[1]

During the late-2007 corruption scandal that caused the former Speaker of the House Patricia Etteh to resign, Lawan led the Integrity Group, an alliance of Representatives opposed to Etteh.

Fuel subsidy scandal

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In January 2012, Lawan chaired the House of Representatives committee that investigated the Nigerian government's fuel subsidies.[3] The committee was set up in the wake of nationwide strikes in Nigeria after President Goodluck Jonathan removed a fuel subsidy. This resulted in the increase in price of fuel.[4] The committee's report released in April the same year revealed a huge scam in which Nigerian fuel companies were being paid hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies by the government for fuel that was never delivered. It was estimated the scam cost the country $6.8 billion.[3]

In February 2013, Lawan was charged with corruption after he allegedly accepted $500,000 from Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, as part of a $3 million bribe Lawan had solicited from Otedola.[5] Otedola claimed that Lawan demanded the bribe in order to have his company, Zenon, removed from the list of companies that the committee had implicated in the scandal. The initial fuel subsidy report said that Zenon owed more than $1 million to the government, but legislators later voted to remove the firm from the final report. Lawan said that he accepted the money in order to expose blackmail and informed the committee and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) about it.[6]

On 22 June 2021, the trial of Farouk Lawan came to a logical conclusion as the judge, Angela Otaluka, sentenced the former federal lawmaker to seven years in prison.[7]

Otaluka, a judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Apo, Abuja, who jailed Lawan for corruptly demanding $3 million and eventually taking $500,000 bribe while serving as the chairman of the House of Representatives’ ad-hoc committee investigating the fraud around fuel subsidy in 2012.

In her judgment, Otaluka relied heavily on the testimony of Otedola,[8] who described giving the $500,000 to Lawan in a sting operation planned with the State Security Service (SSS) to obtain evidence of extortion against the lawmaker. He went to the court of appeal and the sentencing was reduced to five years. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction on January 26, 2024, after he appealed the initial seven-year sentence given by the trial court. The trial court based its judgment on the testimony of Otedola, who cooperated with the State Security Service to expose Lawan’s corruption.[9][10]

Release from Prison

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Farouk Lawan was released from prison on 22 October 2024 after serving his sentence for accepting bribes during his tenure as a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives. His release marks the end of a high-profile case that drew significant public and media attention. The case remains one of Nigeria's most discussed political corruption scandals.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Honourable Farouk Lawan". National Assembly of Nigeria. Archived from the original on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
  2. ^ Nwankwo, Chiawo (2007-11-01). "S'West Reps: Jostling for Etteh's seat". The Punch online. Archived from the original on 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2007-11-03.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ a b "Nigeria's President Jonathan 'must act over fuel scam'", BBC News, England, 2012
  4. ^ "Nigerian fuel subsidy: Strike suspended", BBC News, England, 2012
  5. ^ Nigeria anti-graft lawmaker charged with $3 mln bribe, United States: Reuters, 2013
  6. ^ "Nigerian Farouk Lawan charged over $3m fuel scam 'bribe'", BBC News, England, 2013
  7. ^ "Judge speaks about 'chequered history' of Farouk Lawan's eight-year trial". 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
  8. ^ testimony of Mr Otedola
  9. ^ Oyeyemi, Fadehan (2024-01-26). "Supreme Court affirms Farouk Lawan's five-year prison sentence over $500,000 bribe". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  10. ^ Anichukwueze, Donatus (January 26, 2024). "Supreme Court Upholds Five-Year Sentence Of Farouk Lawan". Channelstv.
  11. ^ Abubakar, Abdullahi (2024-10-22). "Tsohon dan Majalisar Tarayya, Farouk Lawan ya samu yanci kan zargin rashawar $3m". Legit.ng - Nigeria news. (in Hausa). Retrieved 2024-12-08.
  12. ^ "Farouk Lawan released from prison: Di former lawmaker wey serve jail term for bribery accuse". BBC News Pidgin. 2024-10-22. Retrieved 2024-12-08.