Lawan
There
were hints yesterday of the reasons behind the confidence exuded by the
embattled former Chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc
Committee on the Management of Fuel Subsidy, Mallam Farouk Lawan.
A
National Assembly source told our correspondent that Lawan is set to
shock Nigerians with proofs of his innocence. Lawan had once said he
would be vindicated at the end of the investigation.
The
House Committee on Ethics and Privileges on Thursday commenced
investigation into the sum of $620,000 Lawan allegedly collected from
the Chairman of Zenon Petroleum, Femi Otedola.
Lawan,
who entered the investigation room at 1:06pm on Thursday appeared
unruffled by the media attention the allegation of bribery levelled
against him has gained in recent time. On sighting the more than 50
newsmen who had waited earnestly for his arrival, he said, “Mr Chairman,
it is a full house.”
However,
contrary to earlier promise by the Chairman of the House Committee on
Media and Public Affairs, Zakari Mohammed, that the session would be
open to media coverage, the Chairman of the Committee, Gambo Dan-Musa
asked journalists to leave after he had read his address.
Mohammed
later defended the Committee’s decision to hold the investigation
behind closed door. According to the House Spokesman, the decision was
to avoid distraction as other investigations on the same matter were
going on.
He
said the Committee would not want media attention to create a situation
where evidence of one investigation would affect the course of the
other.
According
to the source, the lawmaker, who was also relieved of his chairmanship
of the Education Committee, was not only relaxed throughout the session,
he was very cooperative and was ready to assist the committee in its
assignment.
Saying
that Nigerians are in for a shock concerning the bribe, the source
affirmed that the issue of the whereabouts of the money would be laid to
rest by the time the report of the Committee is tabled before the
House.
Asked
about the disposition of Lawan to the Committee’s questions, the source
said: “He was confident in the way he carried himself, because he has
proof. He did not fidget and he gave us the relevant things we requested
from him.
“You
know he was Vice Chairman of Ethics committee in 1999. So, he kn0ws the
extent the Ethics Committee could go. So, he was quite open. The
reality is that he has all the text messages. He has evidence that will
shock everybody with the little we got from him.”
The
source also revealed that the Committee was cautious but firm about the
whereabouts of the cash, going by past experience. “Nobody saw any
money with the former Speaker Adolphus Wabara. Where he fell into the
trap was that he allowed himself to be deceived. They cajoled him that
he should accept that he took the money and that he should pay back and
that there won’t be any problems. He fell for it and went and dropped
the money. As soon as he dropped the money, they nailed him.
“As
for Farouk, he did not deny collecting the money as he seemed to be
aware of the consequences, but the whereabouts of the money is what the
investigation should determine.”
He
also said that the main focus of the Committee is to ascertain the
relationships between the alleged bribe and the outcome of the report.
“Our
own job basically is to find out if he went out to take bribe to
influence the report in any way. You should not forget that Otedola has
three companies involved in the case.
“One
can recall that the report was tabled on the 19th. If they had taken
money from anybody, why would they be indicted. You know their mandate
was PMS. This is a very simple matter. If your company was not involved
and you have documents to back it up, then present it.
“In
the case of Zenon, he made documents available. But as for AP, he did
not present any document and that was why AP was still there. He started
helping the committee by giving them information. At the end of the
day, it turned around. The story changed and started with some threats,
but Farouk went to get that money to save himself, not knowing at that
point too, the man was also looking for how to blackmail him.
“That
is basically how far I can go with you until the man appears before us
to have a look at another angle to the saga. But from what he has,
Nigerians will be shocked.”
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