Former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Farouk Lawan, has been released from jail, where he served five years for a $300,000 bribe taken from billionaire businessman Femi Otedola.
Then Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk bagged the jail term for seeking the said amount from oil-dealer Otedola, while probing the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.
Otedola, who owned the oil firm Zenon, secretly recorded the illicit transaction on video.
Lawn, who used to lead a group of lawmakers tagged the INTEGRITY GROUP, walked out of the Kuje Correctional facility in Abuja on Tuesday morning.
“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.
“I remain grateful and indebted to my family and friends who stood by me through this particularly trying phase of my life.”
In 2021, the Court of Appeal in Abuja sentenced him to a five-year jail term and discharged him on two of the three counts on the corruption charge brought against him by the Federal Government.
He was also ordered to refund $500,000 to the Federal Government.
Lawan appealed the verdict at the Supreme Court but lost as par its judgement in January 2024, that upheld the verdict.
