Fuel Subsidy Probe Chairman Suspended On Bribe Claim

The Chairman of the adhoc committee handling the $6.8 billion scam in fuel subsidy payments has been suspended while police investigate claims he demanded a bribe from Mr Femi Otedola, in exchange for keeping him off the list.

Farouk Lawan's parliamentary probe blew the whistle on one of the biggest corruption scandals in Nigeria's history in April, revealing a web of collusion between oil ministry officials and fuel marketers to claim subsidy payments for billions of litres of fuel that was never delivered.

But allegations that he demanded  and took about $3 million bribe from one of the richest oil tycoons Femi Otedola to scrub his name off the list have cast doubt on the whole report.

"The house should suspend Farouk Lawan as the chairman of the ad hoc committee on the monitoring of the utilisation of the fuel subsidy pending the investigation of the bribery allegation against him," the resolution said.

Lawan was still being questioned by police on Friday and unavailable for comment.

The national press this week quoted Otedola as saying Lawan approached him for a bribe, some of which he paid but secretly filmed it so he could explose Lawan.

When voting on the report, parliament inexplicably voted to remove Zenon from the list of fuel companies abusing the subsidy - the report initially estimated that Zenon owed at least $1.4 million to the government for fraudulent subsidy payments.

The house also resolved on Friday to put Zenon back on the list in the report.