A former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, has finished serving his imprisonment at Kuje Custodial Center in Abuja.

Lawan, who was jailed five years for receiving the sum of $500,000 bribe from business mogul, Femi Otedola in the 2012 oil subsidy scam completed his jail term on Tuesday.

The former lawmaker disclosed this in a statement he personally signed and made public on Tuesday.

He expressed happiness at leaving the confinement, saying his freedom makes a new beginning in his life.

While thanking Allah for his freedom, Lawan stated that “today marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life as I step out of Kuje Custodial Centre, with a heart full of gratitude to Allah SWT for seeing me through this trial.”

Expressing deeper gratitude to God, the ex-convict said he is alive, in good health and high spirits to be with his family, friends and associates.

He said he remains grateful and indebted to his family and friends who stood by him through what he considered as “trying phase of my life.”

Lawan, who was the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime, was arraigned in 2013 after he allegedly demanded for a bribe of $3 million from billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, who accused him of receiving the sum of $500,000.

The bribe was said to help influence the removal of the name of his oil company from the list of indicted companies in the fuel subsidy scam of 2012.

Lawan has appealed the judgment and the panel held that the prosecution failed to prove that he demanded and agreed to accept the sum from Otedola, to exonerate his company from the list of indicted firms.

Lawan was convicted on the three count charges preferred against him by the federal government with a sentence of five years each for the first two counts, and seven years for the last count, all to run concurrently.

Meanwhile, a Federal Capital Territory High Court had sentenced him to seven years in prison but the Court of Appeal in Abuja reduced the jail term to five years.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and a Senator representing Kwara South in the National Assembly, Oyebola Yisa Ashiru have been enmeshed in corrupt and drug dealing allegations.

Sensor Ashiru, while speaking on the floor of the Senate on October 15, 2024, had declared that the enforcement agency is corrupt and needed to be probed for the rise in the rate of drug trafficking across the country.

Responding, NDLEA Chairman, Mohammed Buba Marwa, took a swipe at the lawmaker for his utterances and alleged that the corrupt allegations against the agency were borne out of vendetta.

Defending the agency further, Marwa, while speaking to journalists on Monday, noted that Senator Ashiru’s claims were baseless, adding that Ashiru had developed personal hatred against the NDLEA since the day its operatives raided the senator’s personal residence in GRA Ilorin, Kwara State, on February 4, 2024, and found illicit drugs.

Marwa disclosed that the Federal lawmaker was using his house as joint for illicit drug dealers, saying that two of Ashiru’s aides identified as Ibrahim Mohammed and Muhammed Yahaya, were arrested, while a third suspect bolted away.

He stated that the agency carried out the raid following credible intelligence indicating that the house was being used for drug trafficking and consumption.

The agency also revealed a separate operation in June 2023, which led to the arrest of another associate of the senator, Oluwatosin Odepidan, in Offa, Kwara State.

He said Odepidan was found in possession of methamphetamine and cannabis, stressing that despite attempts by the senator’s personal assistant to have the case dropped, Odepidan was prosecuted.

The NDLEA boss pointed out that initially, Odepidan abused the bail privilege granted him in 2023 but was rearrested and convicted in June 2024.

Marwa maintained that Ashiru’s attack was an attempt to tarnish the agency’s reputation, following the legal actions taken against his associates.

Meanwhile, Ashiru’s office denied all allegations of NDLEA, dismissing them as fallacious.

Ashiru’s Legislative Aide on Media, Olaitan Adeyanju submitted that it was preposterous and mere fishing for justification that NDLEA had to wait for the senator’s remarks on the floor the Senate before making its “spurious allegations.”

He said Ashiru never employed any aide bearing Ibrahim Mohammed or Mohammed Yahaya as claimed by NDLEA, acknowledging that the agency’s operatives visited the senator’s Ilorin house but found nothing incriminating.

According to him, “The entire house was searched, and nothing incriminating was found. If any drugs were found on certain persons mentioned by the NDLEA, it is rational to ask at which court of law were the culprits charged?”

He also denied allegation that Ashiru sent some person to the NDLEA to influence the dropping of drug allegations against anyone known as Tosin Odepidan, disclosing that “all the names mentioned by the agency are strange, and none works directly or indirectly with Senator Ashiru.”

Adeyanju further averred that the NDLEA has the duty to take anyone suspected of drug dealing to court rather than name- calling and engaging in media trial, saying that the agency’s rebuttal was misleading.

He alluded to the senator’s stance that many criminals, cultists, armed robbers, and drug addicts find their way back into business after gratifying and bribing law enforcement officers, asking NDLEA to search its house and fish out bad eggs.

The Ondo State chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party and the ruling All Progressives Congress have clashed over alleged misappropriation of public funds by the government of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

While the opposition party alleged that Aiyedatiwa stole a significant amount of money belonging to the Ondo people, the ruling party kicked, denying the accusation.

PDP believed that the governor squandered the public funds on frivolous activities during his 10 months in office.

The party therefore asked the people of the state to scold the governor by refusing to vote for him as APC gubernatorial candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

The PDP, in a statement released by its state’s PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Kennedy Peretei, on Monday, titled, ‘Ondo State is Not Lucky with Aiyedatiwa (7)’, claimed that billions of naira earmarked for state government projects were diverted into private accounts by Aiyedatiwa.

The statement noted that having understudied the governor in the last ten months as governor vis a vis his activities, it was discovered that humongous amounts of money belonging to the state have been diverted in the name of road construction projects.

It claimed that on July 22, 2024, more than N35 billion was approved for asphalt overlay of roads in four Akoko Local Government Areas, Ose, Owo, Ilaje, Idanre, Ondo, and Akure regions adding that three months later, these roads remain in the same condition as before the contracts were awarded.

The party then concluded that the substantial sums must have vanished into private pockets, “as contractors are not on site, citing non-payment.”

The PDP further alleged that a substantial amount of money was allocated for the renovation of the deputy governor’s lodge in 2022, yet the project remains incomplete.

According to the opposition party, the deputy governor, Mr Olayide Adelami, has been staying in a hotel since assuming office.

However, the Ondo State APC has dismissed the PDP’s allegations describing it as baseless and untrue.

Responding, the Director of Publicity of the APC in the state, Mr Steve Otaloro, dismissed the PDP’s allegations as baseless and aimed at undermining Governor Aiyedatiwa’s achievements.

In a counter statement, Otaloro said the PDP’s allegations are filled with inaccuracies, speculations, and misinformation, adding that during their 12-year reign in Ondo State, they achieved nothing of note.

He said the opposition party’s inability to offer a credible alternative to Governor Aiyedatiwa’s accomplishments has led them to resort to false accusations and lies.