Former House of Representatives member Farouk Lawan has appreciated President Bola Tinubu for the presidential pardon bestowed upon him, saying the gesture drafted him back into active citizenship.

“My family and I, along with my friends and associates in Kano State and across Nigeria, are indescribably grateful to Mr President for drafting me back into active citizenship with its unavoidable service imperative,” Mr Lawan said in a statement shortly after the pardon.

The erstwhile lawmaker was pardoned on Thursday, along with 174 others, based on recommendations approved by the National Council of State. Other prominent beneficiaries of the pardon include Herbert Macaulay, Mamman Vasta, and Nweke Francis Chibueze.

In the statement appreciating Mr Tinubu, Mr Lawan described the gesture as “fatherly, compassionate, and decisive,” noting the president pulled him back from the harshness of yesterday’s cold.

“Mr President has cast a warm blanket over me, pulling me back from the harshness of yesterday’s cold,” the politician said. “A day like this is not for a long treatise. To a fatherly, compassionate, and decisive political leader, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, God, and history shall remember you.”

Mr Lawan, who reflected on his past years, added, “Throughout those moments of sober reflection, my faith in the greatness of our Fatherland never wavered, nor did my resolve to contribute to it ever weaken. A re-dedication to the ideals of Nigeria is upon me. My hope is renewed.”

The four-term member of the House of Representatives, who represented the Bagwai/Shanono constituency in Kano State, was charged with corruption in 2013 after he allegedly accepted $500,000 from Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire oil tycoon, as part of a $3 million bribe to remove the businessman’s company, Zenon, from the list of companies implicated in the petroleum subsidy fraud.

Mr Lawan’s trial came to a logical conclusion in 2021 when Judge Angela Otaluka of the Federal Capital Territory High Court convicted him of three counts and sentenced him to seven years in prison.

However, an appellate court in 2022 acquitted him on two counts, upheld one conviction, and reduced his sentence to five years.

The Supreme Court later upheld the politician’s conviction in 2024, and Mr Lawan was released in October 2024 after serving his jail term.

Mr Tinubu’s sudden pardon of Mr Lawan absolves the ex-lawmaker of any legal and reputational barrier that might delimit him from contesting political offices.