A former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan has regained his freedom after serving his five year jail term at the Kuje Correctional Center in Abuja.

He was released from prison on Tuesday.

Lawan, a former chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy, was accused of soliciting a $3 million bribe from Femi Otedola while probing the multi-billion naira fuel subsidy fraud in 2012.

He was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2021 for accepting a $500,000 bribe from Otedola.

The bribe was to remove Otedola’s then company Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited from the list of oil companies allegedly involved in the scam.

In the suit, he was said to have corruptly asked Otedola for a bribe of $3 million as an inducement to remove the name of his company from the report of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Monitoring of fuel subsidy regime.

Following a long journey to justice for Lawan who has been standing trial since 2013 was finally jailed in June 2021 by Justice Angela Otaluka of an Abuja High Court.

He was found guilty of counts one, two, and three which bothered on corruptly asking for bribe and obtaining same from Otedola.

The presiding judge stated that the evidence listed and submitted before the court by the prosecution counsel remained unshaken during cross-examination.

She added that the conduct, responses, and submissions of the defendant and witnesses established the charge in the first count, while the defendant demanded a balance after receiving the first and second tranche of the payment.

In January 2024, the Supreme Court upheld a five years sentence of Farouk Lawan, for receiving $500,000 from Otedola.

His appeal sought to set aside the February 24, 2022 judgment 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 judgment 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.

The five-member panel unanimously affirmed the 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld Lawan’s sentencing to five years in respect of only count three on the three-count charge on which he was tried at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.