Former House of Representatives member Farouk Lawan has been released after completing a five-year prison sentence for soliciting and accepting a $300,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola.
Lawan was freed from the Kuje Correctional Facility in Abuja on Tuesday.
“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,” he said in a statement he signed.
The former lawmaker thanked friends and family for their support in a “particularly trying phase of my life”.
“My gratitude is deep, I’m alive and in good health and high spirits to be with my family, friends, and associates. I don’t take that for granted,” he said.
“I remain grateful and indebted to my family and friends who stood by me through this particularly trying phase of my life.”
Farouk Lawan, a former lawmaker and chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Fuel Subsidy, was sentenced to five years in prison for soliciting $300,000 from businessman Femi Otedola during a 2012 probe into the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud.
In 2021, the Court of Appeal in Abuja convicted him on one of the three corruption charges, ordering him to refund $500,000 to the Federal Government.
Lawan appealed to the Supreme Court, but in January 2024, the court upheld the verdict.
Justice Tijjani Abubakar, delivering the lead judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro, ruled that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it.