Former House of Representatives member Farouk Lawan has been released from the Kuje Correctional facility in Abuja after completing a five-year prison sentence, News About Nigeria reports.
Lawan had been convicted for soliciting and accepting a $300,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola during a 2012 probe into the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud.
Lawan expressed his gratitude in a statement, thanking Allah and those who supported him during his incarceration.
“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.
In 2021, the Court of Appeal sentenced Lawan to five years in prison and ordered him to return $500,000 to the Federal Government.
Although he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, the court upheld the lower court’s verdict in January 2024, dismissing Lawan’s appeal and affirming his conviction.
