$3 Million Bribery Scandal: Farouk Lawan To Spend Weekend In Detention

Rep Farouk Lawan walking into the police station yesterday in Abuja

Farouk Lawan, the embattled Nigerian lawmaker who led an investigation into the fraud-ridden fuel subsidy program only to fall prey to charges of demanding and accepting bribes from targets of his probe, is to spend the weekend at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
A police source told our correspondent that the police have refused to allow the suspended legislator to go home “because of his refusal to surrender the $620,000 bribe he collected Femi Otedola.”
Mr. Lawan’s lawyer, Israel Olorundare (SAN), was still with him at the police headquarters at the time of filing this report. His other lawyer, Sam Ologunorisa (SAN), confirmed the refusal of the police to release him.
Mr. Ologunorisa said it was unfortunate that the police were using the opportunity of the weekend to detain his client, adding that, were it not for the week, Mr. Lawan would have headed to the court to enforce his fundamental human rights.
“The police are using the opportunity of the weekend to detain him illegally. We will meet in court on Monday if they refuse to release him before then,” he said.
The lawyer frowned at the decision of Nigeria’s police to detain his client, wondering why the same police failed to detain Mr. Otedola, the oil magnate who reportedly gave the legislator more than $600,000 in bribes.