A former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, on Tuesday, regained his freedom after serving his jail term.
Lawan was convicted over a bribery allegation arising from the fuel subsidy probe in the Lower House.
He was alleged to have demanded the sum of $3 million for himself from the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, Femi Otedola.
He allegedly collected $620,000 out of the amount with a view to removing Otedola’s companies’ names from the list of firms indicted by the ad-hoc committee for allegedly abusing the fuel subsidy regime in 2012.
Lawan was convicted in 2021 for seven years but had his sentence reduced by two years after some of the charges against him were dropped.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court affirmed his sentence, insisting he must serve his jail terms.
His appeal sought to set aside the February 24, 2022 judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sentenced him to a five-year jail term and discharged him on two out of the three counts on the corruption charge brought against him by the Federal Government.
In the lead judgement prepared by Justice John Okoro but read by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court held that Lawan’s appeal was without merit and dismissed it.
He was sent to Kuje Correctional Centre for his term.
