At last, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, has regained his freedom having met his N1 billion bail bond.
Iwu who spent one week in Ikoyi prison is standing trial for N1.23 billion fraud charges.
He left the prison on Friday after meeting the N1 billion bail with two sureties.
It would be recalled that the professor of pharmacognosy was arraigned on August 8 on a four-count charge bordering on money laundering.
He was alleged to have aided the concealment the fund between December 2014 and March 2015,
The money lodged in the bank account of Bioresources Institute of Nigeria Limited was believed to have been part of the N23.29b slush fund allegedly shared by former petroleum minister, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections.
Iwu was fingered as one of the beneficiaries of the fund, including some INEC officials who are facing trial.
Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court, Lagos admitted him to bail in the sum of N1 billion with two sureties in like sum.
The judge said one of the sureties must be a landed property owner in Lagos, while the other must be a civil servant not below Grade Level 16 or a professor in any Nigerian university.
He said both sureties must show evidence of three years’ tax clearance and were also required to furnish the court with their statements of accounts. Iwu was ordered to submit his passport into the court’s custody, with an order that he could not travel except with the permission of the court.
