Farouk’s fall into a big trap

After dealing deadly blows to powerful, deadly, venomous highly placed politicians from Kano to Abuja, Lawan left his flanks open with the $620,000 bribery and fell into a snare that may consume his past ‘integrity claims’ and obliterate his future political ambition. After running against the tide and meeting with failures in his ambition to […]

After dealing deadly blows to powerful, deadly, venomous highly placed politicians from Kano to Abuja, Lawan left his flanks open with the $620,000 bribery and fell into a snare that may consume his past ‘integrity claims’ and obliterate his future political ambition. After running against the tide and meeting with failures in his ambition to become Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2000 and 2003, Lawan became a kingmaker that defied the old men of the PDP and the Presidency. In 2007, he was among those who put in place the staircase that Ms Patricia Etteh climbed to the exalted seat as Speaker. Against the interest of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP stalwarts, Lawan was also among the workmen who dismantled the blocks of the staircase and supervised the fall of the woman who clinched a record as the first female Speaker of the national legislature in Nigeria. He worked against the party’s leadership to install Dimeji Bankole as Speaker after the fall of Etteh. Also, throughout Bankole’s tenure, the House was at loggerheads with the Presidency and the party, leading to suspicions that it did not support the Acting Presidency of now President Goodluck Jonathan. While Bankole paid a heavy price for his stand – he didn’t return to the House – Lawan defied all intrigues and returned to the National Assembly. Again, he fought against Obasanjo’s design for the House to produce a Speaker from the South-West, as Lawan was seen as the hand that propped up Aminu Tambuwal for the position. Obasanjo was angry. The presidency was dazed. The party marvelled, but was helpless.

 

On the issue of oil subsidy removal on April 1, Lawan was seen as a big spoiler for the Presidency, the party and vested interests in the oil sector. Smoking like hell from Kano, Farouk vehemently opposed the move, in a stance that gave him a populist outlook.   Under his influence the House called on government to reverse the pump price to N63 per litre, and at an emergency sitting, set up the ad hoc committee to probe the oil subsidy regime. Vowing incorruptibility, Farouk promised to produce a report that would unearth many of the evils and thieves that torment the nation. As promised, he came up with a staggering report that N2.6 trillion was stolen and this set oil marketers quaking because of the massive refund demanded from them in the report.

Having hurt very powerful elements in these ways, Farouk Lawan’s indiscretion in accepting a bribe from oil baron Femi Otedola to erase his companies’ names from the list of oil marketers who obtained forex but failed to import petroleum, was unthinkable.

FROM RUMOUR TO REALITY

Lawan’s committee held a public hearing between January and February, which culminated in the submission of the report on April 18. It uncovered monumental fraud in the fuel subsidy management.

At several times, Sunday Trust learnt, Speaker Tambuwal cautioned Farouk against compromising by collecting money from anybody affected by the probe. Before the report was submitted there were delays, supposedly as a result of lobbying by those affected who wanted to be exonerated. This perspective was exclusively reported by Daily Trust on April 17th.  The House considered the report and passed the resolutions. However, rumours had filtered into the parliament that some monies had exchanged hands, but nothing came to the open. The cat was finally let out of the bag when media reports indicated that oil baron Otedola had given Lawan and his associates $620,000 bribe to exonerate Zenon Oil from indictment.

Last Sunday, Lawan issued a statement denying ever collecting any bribe from anybody.  But less than 24 hours after, Otedola admitted to offering the bribe in what he called a “sting operation” involving security operatives.  There were further reports that the State Security Service (SSS) had called Tambuwal to their office and showed him the video purportedly showing Lawan collecting the alleged bribe money from Otedola in the later’s house in Maitama District of Abuja. The SSS was said to have requested Tambuwal to help them retrieve the money from Farouk, but the Speaker instantly declined.

Sunday Trust gathered that Lawan had earlier intimated the Police in Abuja over attempts by Otedola to bribe him and that he had in April written to the Chairman of the House committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crime, Jagaba Adams Jagaba, about the issue in a letter dated April 24, 2012, in which he (Lawan) complained of Otedola’s  scheme to offer him bribe to influence outcome of the committee’s report. The letter reads in part,  “Attached (to the letter) is the sum of five hundred thousand dollars only offered to me with another promise of two million, five hundred thousand dollars.” Lawan in the said letter to Jagaba said that he did not raise the issue on the floor of the House because it would overshadow the essence of the fuel subsidy probe.

It read further: “I had considered bringing this issue as a matter of privilege on the floor of the House later today (April 24), but I am concerned that the controversy it will generate will dwarf the contents of the report, which needs public attention, so that necessary reforms in the sector could be affected.

“Given the desperation of Mr Otedola, handling this matter, in a firm but diplomatic manner is necessary as he has also made some veiled threats which put me and members of the committee in a delicate situation,” Lawan said in the letter. He stated further that the clerk of the committee, Mr Boniface Emenalo, had, in a letter written to him on April 24, 2012, said Otedola offered him $100,000.

Emenalo’s letter reads in part, “I wish to inform you that I was on his invitation, at the residence of their Chairman, Mr Femi Otedola, in Maitama (Aso Drive) this morning and he offered me the sum of one hundred thousand US dollars in two bundles of $50,000 each. The money is hereby forwarded as evidence.”

Lawan also stated that the police were aware of the offer of bribe as the Inspector-General in a letter dated, May 9, 2012, directed the task force on investigation to meet him. The IGP in the letter with reference number CR:3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/309 called Lawan’s attention to an interview he granted a national newspaper on April 28, 2012 and directed, “a discreet investigation into the matter.” The letter was signed by the Commissioner of Police, Special Task Force, Ali Amodu.

In another letter dated May 16, 2012 with reference number CR: 3000/IGP.SEC/STF/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 2/319, and signed by Amodu, the IGP requested money exhibit, names of witnesses and other material evidences from Lawan. The ad hoc committee chair explained that in a letter dated May 31, 2012, he told the IGP that the matter (bribe offer) had been referred to the relevant committee of the House for legislative actions and promised to furnish the Police authorities with the outcome. Sunday Trust gathered that IGP, in a letter to the Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, dated June 4, 2012, informed the parliament that a detailed criminal investigation had been ordered into the matter.

The letter was titled, “Investigation activities: Letter of invitation in a case of criminal conspiracy and attempt to pervert the course of justice by offering gratification,” the office of the IGP stated that “the Inspector General of Police had directed a detailed criminal investigation into the matter.”

On Thursday Lawan surrendered himself to the police headquarters and he was detained after being quizzed. Sources said, Tambuwal was the main target of the Presidency and moves and meetings had already begun in an orchestrated plan to remove the Speaker. But when the details leaked, the Presidency issued statement denying it.

In the wake of the crisis Tambuwal summoned another historic emergency session last Friday  and the MPs unanimously passed resolutions relieving Lawan from the chairmanship of the subsidy panel and replaced with Rep John Owan Enoh (PDP, Cross Rivers) while all other members of the panel were retained. The Green Chamber also suspended Lawan from chairing the House standing Committee on Education, which he had been handling since 2007. In the same vein, the allegation against Lawan by Otedola was also referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges chaired by Rep Gambo Dan Musa (CPC, Katsina) for investigation. The committee is to report back within two weeks.

The lawmakers also rescinded the decision exonerating Otedola’s companies Zenon Oil and Gas Limited and Synopsis Oil from fraudulently collecting foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the name of oil importation but did not import fuel in 2011. Similarly, the legislators directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to verify what they used the forex for.

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES

The bribery allegation made headlines of national dailies few days after Obasanjo described the National Assembly as a den of robbers and thieves.  However, there were indications that the PDP may be at the centre of the $620,000 scandal. As it were, it was gathered that the party, in an attempt to ensure that big oil marketers, who are financiers of the party, were not indicted, had sought the cooperation of Farouk Lawan’s committee to produce a report that would not disgrace them. The understanding, it was claimed, was that members of the committee are produced by the PDP, and it would seem like a self-indictment. Against this deal, it is said, the report came hard on the oil marketers, asking them to refund huge sums which they collected as subsidy, and giving the impression that the ruling party was sitting on corruption.

However, Femi Otedola argued to the contrary. According to him, the $620,000 was offered in a sting operation by security agents in order to nail Lawan who persistently demanded that bribe money be offered in return for a favourable report. Why should Otedola yield to such a blackmail when he didn’t ‘benefit from the subsidy?’ In a report on Premium Times, an online news agency, on the three occasions, Lawan visited Otedola in a C- class Mercedes Benz, during which five video recordings were made, each of them for a period between eight and 10 minutes. It alleged that Lawan negotiated the terms of the bribe with Mr. Otedola over a lunch on the first visit. On a second visit, it was reported that he received the first part of $250,000 at about 11 p.m. On the third visit, the recording indicated that he received the balance sum at about 5.05am. He was said to have put the money in his pockets and under the cap.

Was this a sting operation? A top security officer in Abuja said the operation was ‘undetermined’ and left a number of unresolved questions. Sting operation is allowed by the police and other security forces to catch a criminal or corrupt official, especially serving security personnel. He said it can be used to catch illegal drug or weapon dealers. He said money can be marked by applying a specialised powder to it to enable quick identification of finger prints. The exact amount of money demanded is given so as not to raise suspicion. “In this case some undercover officers are assigned to monitor those giving the money, the receiver and the environment. As soon as the suspect collects the money, he is arrested without any delay.” He said in the case of Lawan time was wasted before the matter was reported and the money would have been spent thereby leaving investigators without evidence.

He said some countries have outlawed sting operations because it is legally complicated to know the intention. “If people who would otherwise not take money in bribe were lured, pressed or pressured to take bribe money, you don’t call that sting rather a planned intimidation.”

He said advanced countries have used sting exercises to arrest dealers of arms, illegal substances including explosives as well corrupt officials following laid down procedures.

In Kano, mixed-reactions trail Lawan’s bribery scandal

The bribery allegation that engulfed the former Chairman, House Committee on Subsidy Probe Rep. Farouk Lawan, representing Bagwai/Shanono constituency in the House of Representatives, has been generating conflicting reactions in the embattled lawmaker’s Kano home state.

While a section of the public is expressing fears that the scandal was deliberately midwifed to create an avenue for jettisoning the fuel subsidy report and to rub mud on Farouk’s integrity, certain quarters said they were not surprised that the lawmakers had got himself entangled in the imbroglio.

Similarly, while some members of his constituency from Bagwai and Shanono Local Government areas argue that the scandal is a pointer to the fact that he has been engrossed too much with underhand dealings in the House of Representatives to the extent that his performance at home is nothing to write home about, Farouk’s supporters think he has been serious at bringing development to his community.

Generally, Rep. Farouk Lawan is considered one of the most popular and well-accepted politicians in Kano State. The vibrant lawmaker, who was first elected to the House of Representatives, is running his fourth tenure in the national parliament, before he ran into the murky waters of the fuel subsidy.

Alhaji Muhyi Magaji, the National Chairman of Anti-corruption Awareness Network Initiative, believed that the $3million bribe scandal was masterminded by forces that were found wanting by the report of the subsidy committee. “Agreed he has made a mistake, but what was the Federal Government waiting all that long with those that have been indicted by the subsidy report? There was an attempt to make Farouk a scapegoat, that is why they hatched the plan,” said the ACN senatorial candidate for Kano-North in 2011.

The chairman of the anti-corruption group however, maintained that since the lawmaker has committed the mistake, he should not be shielded from facing punishment. He further argued that the scandal should not be allowed to compromise the subsidy report. “His case brings to mind the Hausa adage ‘if you don’t know how to catch a thief, a thief will catch you.’ Farouk had gone all out to arrest thieves, but ended up being arrested too. We should not forget, however, that before he fell into their trap, he had succeeded in exposing them and telling us who they are. So, let them also be brought to book. And that is why we keep asking what is government doing about the report,” posited Magaji.

Also not happy with the turn of events in the subsidy saga, former presidential aspirant for the Labour Party, Alhaji Isa Tijjani, said he was disappointed with the alleged action of the ex-committee chairman. Tijjani, who said he was a vocal supporter of the fuel subsidy investigation by the House committee under Farouk Lawal, noted that his only regret was that the lawmaker “has fallen so cheap and has weakened a lot of his admirers,” adding that even if a plot had been hatched to nail him, the way he cheaply fell to the “evil machination” has exposed “his character and his conduct in public affairs as a legislator before now.”

“The man has committed a crime and he must be made to pay for it. If it were in places where there are decorum and sense of responsibility he would just annouce his resignation from the House, bury himself in shame and face the legal hurdles of the abuse and trust bestowed on him by the House, intentional truncation of the will of the people, abusing the trust of Nigerians, collecting bribe as a public officer and delibrately lying to Nigerians even when he actually knew he has committed a crime,” he said.

Similarly, the former presidential aspirant questioned the rationale behind the perceived delay on the side of the Federal Government in terms of acting on the committee’s report, describing it as “disturbing.”

“How can the legislature investigate the existence of a scam in the fuel subsidy regime and hand over to the presidency, yet, there is no action,” he asked, fearing that “Something is terribly wrong.”

On Otedola, Tijjani advised the House “not to be carried away by the songs of ill-treatment [that] he is singing,” in order that it could be determined whether or not  he “actually collected that colossal sum from our Central Bank in the name of importing fuel or diesel and if yes, did he import the product, among other questions?”

However, members of Bagwai/Shanono constituency have expressed little shock over the predicament of their representative, as they blamed it on what they refered to as repercussion for Farouk Lawal’s persistent neglect of the people who elected him.

Another PDP member from Bagwai Local Government area, Ali Katako, told Sunday Trust that a “full investigation should be carried out. If he is found guilty, let him go in for it, but if he is not culpable, he should be set free. His travails were not unexpected, nonetheless,” said Katako.

Sunday Trust checks revealed that the lawmaker’s image and popularity may suffer badly in the state if he turns out to be indicted for collecting the alleged bribe. Many people holding to the belief that Farouk is incorruptible are praying for the accusation to be proven false at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, former campaign director of Farouk’s governorship aspiration in 2011, Alhaji Kawu Inuwa Gurjiya, refuted the claims that the legislator has been rendering poor representation to his

constituency. The former aide expressed belief that his ex-master will never lose any of his followers, as there are chances that he may come out clean, after investigations.

‘IT’S A PLOT TO WEAKEN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES’

Otunba Dino Melaye, a former member of House of Representatives told Sunday Trust that the scandal was not unexpected. In an interview, he said, “For some of us who have related with Farouk Lawan it didn’t come to us as a surprise. Farouk Lawan is only an individual, so we want the Presidency and the federal government and, indeed, the anti-graft agencies to isolate Farouk Lawan from the issue of the oil subsidy. They are two different issues, if his offence is criminal, he should be criminally prosecuted in accordance with Nigerian laws. The resolution of the House of Representatives is not a child’s play. There is a resolution and a report which have been forwarded to the anti-graft agencies. The report must see the light of the day.

He added that “The moment Farouk Lawan visited the personal residence of Femi Otedola, he veered off the line of principles and ethics. Femi Otedola’s house is not an extension of the National Assembly. And as at April, the committee was still sitting so if you are investigating somebody what takes you to his house? And I will also recall that on the day the report was tendered Farouk Lawan stood up and said further investigation and information had revealed that Femi Otedola’s Zenon was not supposed to be on the indicted list and by so doing. He moved a motion for the removal of its name from the list. Zenon’s name was removed from the list as an outcome of the resolution of the House. If Farouk Lawan collected the money with the intention of setting Otedola up, why was it that Zenon was not on the list. He removed Zenon from the list and yet said he collected the money as an exhibit. He collected the money in April, why didn’t he submit it to the Inspector General’s of Police…?”

On Chief Otedola, Otunba Melaye said, “ the PDP is manifesting itself. Femi Otedola is one of the major financiers of the party. Farouk Lawan is a member of the PDP. Both Otedola and Farouk are all guilty of corruption.  Otedola, with the picture they are trying to paint that he was a mole and was pulling the string is not true. The whole thing is a macabre dance, a drama orchestrated by the PDP, targeting at weakening the leadership of the House of Representatives. And we are waiting to see where their dance will end. We can tell the end of the dance from the beginning. But I can tell you that Nigerians are no fools…”

On the perceived role of the Presidency, he argued that “You cannot isolate the Presidency from the scandal saga. You cannot remove the actor from the movie. The actor is the most integral part of the movie. So I see the Presidency as the actor and the whole scandal as the movie. You cannot exonerate the Presidency because it’s impossible for the security agencies to embark on such operation involving a member of the National Assembly without some approval from the Presidency or rather it is possible that it was initiated from that end. So you cannot separate the Presidency from the scandal… They are trying to protect the Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison Madueke and the likes of Femi Otedola because most of the people indicted are the financiers of PDP. They are the ones donating billions to the PDP fund raising dinner to support the party. This is where they make their money back. So the Federal Government will not like to expose those characters and will do everything possible to kill this report. But the report is not extinguishable, Farouk Lawan only played into their hands…”