A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu has regained his freedom after spending a week at Ikoyi Prison in Lagos.

Iwu, who is facing N1.23 billion fraud charges left the detention facility on Friday after meeting the bail condition of N1 billion with two sureties which a Lagos High Court had imposed on him on August 8.

The former INEC boss was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Chuka Obiozor at the Federal High Court in Lagos. Justice Obiozor admitted him to bail in the sum of N1 billion with two sureties in like sum.

Justice Obiozor said one of the sureties must be a landed property owner in Lagos State 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. The sureties were also required to furnish the court with their statements of account.

The court also ordered Prof. Iwu to submit his passport to the court’s custody, with an order that he could not travel outside Nigeria except with the permission of the court.

The anti-graft agency had accused Iwu of laundering N1.23 billion in the build-up to the 2015 general elections in the country but the former INEC Chairman pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.

The EFCC alleged that between December 2014 and March 27, 2015, Iwu ‘aided the concealment of N1.23 billion in the account of Bio Resources Institute of Nigeria Limited with number 1018603119 and domiciled in the United Bank for Africa’.

Counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo had told the court that by doing so, Iwu acted contrary to sections 18 (a) and 15 (2) (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 and was liable to be punished under Section 15 (3) of the same Act .