Former England footballer John Fashanu spent two days in a Nigerian jail after being accused of committing a fraud by acting as fixer in a land scam.
Fashanu was said to have received £23,000 from a friend interested in buying land, but it turned out that the piece of land in question was not for auction.
According to Mirror UK, the former Wimbledon FC player got locked up in a prison cell with 200 prisoners and was released on July 19,2017 after surrendering his British passport and promising to pay back the money received.
“John Fashanu was arrested on July 17 in connection with an allegation of criminal conspiracy and obtaining the sum of N9,550,000 under false pretence,’’ said Nigeria’s Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hyacinth Dagala.
“He was granted administrative bail on July 18 but because of his inability to produce the requisite surety on that day, he remained in detention until July 19 when he was released.”
A friend of the former footballer told the Mirror: “ This is a business deal between friends that has gone south and the police were asked to basically mediate . It will all be sorted very quickly. It was just a business deal .”
Fashanu is not new to controversies, as a player in 1997, he was cleared in a high-profile match-fixing trial along with Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers.
Fashanu enjoyed a blistering career in England and was close to playing for Nigeria but that never happened.
