3m Dollar subsidy bribe scandal: Jagaba threatens to sue Lawan if…

Hon. Adams Jagaba

…Warns Farouk Lawan to stop mentioning his name

ABUJA – Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Hon. Adams Jagaba, has threatened to drag the former Chairman of the House Adhoc Committee on Petroleum subsidy management, Hon.Farouk Lawan to court should he continue to mention his name in the $3 million bribery scandal.

Addressing newsmen at the Media Centre of the House yesterday, July 12, 2012 Jagaba alleged that Lawan had admitted that he decided to implicate him (Jagaba) in the scandal in order to strengthen his (Lawan’s) case in court.

Commenting on Lawan’s allegation that he gave him part of the money he allegedly extorted from oil magnate Femi Otedola, Jagaba vehemently denied the claim.

He said: “Hon. Farouk Lawan alleged that he wrote a letter to me attaching $500,000. That is callously untrue and in fact, calculated to smear my hard-earned reputation; a reputation I painstakingly built since 1999. I never received any letter, or money, or any other exhibit from Farouk Lawan.”

He continued: “I saw for the first time the purported letter on a page of the Leadership Newspaper, of 14th June, 2012; and the closest copy which I saw and touched, was the copy he presented to the Police Special Task Force”.

Explaining further on what transpired between him and Lawan at the Police headquarters, yesterday, he said: ”Farouk, in his opening remarks, stated that he reported the matter to me because of my position as the Chairman, House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes and not because I was involved in the bribery saga. He also told the Police that he involved me in the matter because he thinks that, that would enhance his case in Court. We faced each other before the Police STF. I then put the question: “Hon. Farouk, did you give me $500,000 or any money for that matter?” This was a question the out-spoken Farouk could not answer. He kept mum till I left.”

Responding to the letter Lawan claimed to have written to him, he raised several posers.
He siad: “The following were the features of the purported letter: – The copy published by the leadership Newspaper of 14th June, 2012 on page 6, had the following curious features; It was dated 24/4/2012 and had a time of 03:47am on it.”

He queried: “Is it the normal practice to indicate time on an official letter? Is it humanly possible to write a two-paged letter within or in less than one-second?”

He also observed that on the second paragraph of the purported letter, Farouk Lawan stated that “attached is the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars only…”

He asked: “Is it practically possible to attach money of that quantity to a sheet of paper?”
He also observed that the purported letter was written on a clean sheet of paper.

His poser: “An official letter written  about an issue of this magnitude should have, in my opinion, appeared on the official Letter Headed Paper of the Adhoc Committee on  Petroleum Subsidy Investigation or at least, Hon. Farouk Lawan’s Letter Headed Paper”.

In his concluding remarks about what probably happened to Lawan on the day he wrote the letter he said: “The embattled Hon. Farouk Lawan was rather rattled by the revelation of the bribery scandal, hence, in his confused and highly tensed state, picked up his pen and paper at an un-godly hour of 03:47am, wrote a letter (or so he claimed), as an after-thought, to the effect that he forgot to deliver the letter to the intended recipient, but rather chose to give it to a newspaper reporter and the Police Special Task Force (STF).”

He recalled that Hon. Farouk Lawan initially denied ever demanding and collecting any bribe but later owned up that he actually took the bribe money as an “exhibit.

“Until and unless Hon. Farouk Lawan produces an authentic acknowledged copy of his letter, he should stop dragging my name in the mud.  It will be recalled that I displayed the sum of N4,500,000 bribe money on the floor of the House in 2001 when I was the Committee Chairman on Anti-Corruption. I did that as an act of patriotism, an act that truly laid the foundation for the War Against Corruption in Nigeria. I cannot and shall never be involved in an individualistic act that runs antithetical to national interest.”

He warned  Lawan “to stop this blackmail forthwith or else, I will have no option than take the appropriate legal action against him and to seek compensation befitting my status. Enough is enough!”

 

Otedola, Lawan bribery scandal will rock the system – Oshun



Hon. Wale Osun

Hon. Wale Oshun, is the chairman of Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) and Chief Whip of the House of Representatives during the aborted Third Republic. Oshun, in this interview speaks on the ongoing controversy over bribery allegations between Mr. Femi Otedola and Hon. Farouk Lawan. He also speaks about the controversial June 12, 1993 presidential election; South-West integration; Edo State governorship election and other issues. Excerpts:

What is your view on the on-going bribery allegations between Hon. Farouk La-wan and Mr. Femi Otedola over the fuel subsidy probe?

The case of Lawan and Otedola is still unfolding and we don’t have all the infor-mation surrounding the matter. But I am of the view that the incident has shown that corruption has risen to a very high level in  Nigeria.  Corruption is at all lev-els and it is not limited to the National Assembly.

Of course, the argument should be that the National Assembly should provide some measure of leader-ship in confronting corruption. If we are talking about decline in corruption in other places, what we have in the Nation-al Assembly is increase in corruption. 

It is so visible and you can even touch it. So, talking about the Otedola and Lawan case, I would say that for now we don’t have all the information.  Let us wait, but I am sure it will rock the system. You find the National Assembly touching the most crucial part of the economic nerves of the country…. 

If the corruption in that sector is being probed and there are insinuations regarding the conduct of that probe, then there is a problem. So, let us wait; I think Nigerians need to be patient to know all the facts surrounding the bribery scandals.

What would be the implication if the claims by Otedola are true?

If they are true, it then means that we have all the while been making noise over corruption without making any im-pact in the fight against it.  It will also show that people “fight” corruption only when they are not directly benefitting from it. What the Lawan and Otedola’s case may portend, if it is true, is that we only pay lips service when we are not in the direct corridor that can provide our own fund. Once you are there, you are also likely to get entrapped.

That is the danger because it means people will come to judge when the time comes. If you refer to the way Mallam Nuhu Rib-adu was removed from office as EFCC chairman, attempts were made to bribe him but they were unable to do so, and because he appeared to be doing the cor-rect things, they could not wait to throw him out.  It means that if you are fighting corruption and you are not corrupt, you will easily be thrown out. 

In the last 13 years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been dominating the political field.  Now, there is an ongoing merger talk be-tween the Action Congress of Nige-ria (ACN) and the Congress for Pro-gressive Change (CPC). What is your position on the merger?

I think what is important now is for Nigerians of like minds; people who be-lieve in the same basic tenets to come to-gether.  Governance is about policies and there are always option to help in achiev-ing some growth and development. It is the process of taking this measures that differentiates one party from another. What one can then say is that Nigerians of the same political belief should come together to wrest power from the PDP. But then, a lot depends on what they in-tend to do with that power.

In the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) days, two parties were forced on Nigerians but be-cause of the internal self-contradiction in having people of different views and shapes to operate together, you discov-ered that you had an election won by SDP and the chairman of the same SDP traded it away.

So, first and foremost, you must be bound by the same things.  Those com-ing together must be bound by the same objectives. If political parties are cooper-ating, they must cooperate on certain ba-sic values. People have to be careful and ensure that it is made up of people of the same views and beliefs, especially when it comes to economic and political issues.

Why did you believe that the SDP chairman traded his party’s victory away during the controversial June 12, 1993 presidential election?

He traded it away because he was a non-progressive in a progressive party. You cannot have a marriage of inconve-nience in a party. Once you have a mar-riage of inconvenience, they don’t stand the test of time and they don’t stand the trials that every party must face.

Why is there no co-ordination in the celebration of June 12?  One finds different groups with different pro-grammes on that day.

People have cultivated the idea of cel-ebrating June 12 in diverse ways because June 12 touches people in diverse ways. If you would recall, June 12 led to the emergence of what we call self determi-nation groups. So, in a way, many people and groups are likely to celebrate it from different angles. There is no official rec-ognition of June 12; market women rec-ognise it in different ways because they were looking forward to a more buoyant economy.

The fact that Abiola won made the prices of commodities to drop within one week. Lagos is too big and complex for one activity for June 12. There are so many other states where you have differ-ent ways of celebrating.  However, one thing that runs through them  is that peo-ple acknowledge that Abiola laid down his life so that democracy could strive in Nigeria.   

What is your view on the contro-versy surrounding the renaming of UNILAG after Abiola?

My group, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), has placed an advert advising the government on the matter. There are also issues of illegality, processes, consulta-tions and many other things in the re-naming of UNILAG. So, rather than tak-ing the assiduous task of going to amend the University Act and many other things there are so many ways to honour MKO  Abiola. There are many things to do with democracy to honour  Abiola. We can have June 12 named Democracy Day in honour of Abiola.  

That will require just the understanding of the National As-sembly. And naming the Eagles Square after MKO Abiola, for instance, requires no bill. It may just require the approval of FCT Act or the council in charge. These are things that can be negotiated without necessarily going to changing the name of an established institution.

There is also the issue of localising the martyrdom of Abiola. Abiola laid down his life for the people of this country and for democracy to thrive in Nigeria.  So, if that is the case, whatever is being named after him would be in the national capital of the country like the Eagles Square and National Stadium in Abuja. It must be something that is national.  

What can you say about the South-West integration?

What we have had in Nigeria are frag-mental states and some of the states can-not even survive on their own because of the political system that we have.  Many states rely on the centre because they are not even allowed to control their own productive system and to generate their revenues. It is somebody that usually comes to collect all the revenue and that raises the issues of derivation principles.  People have said that every area should be allowed to generate its own resources, whether natural or physical and pay tax to the federal government.

It should not be the other way round where the federal government collects all the money from the ports and other areas and distributes it in a way that does not take into consid-eration the contribution of the contribut-ing area. These are some of the issues, and until you get to that point where deri-vation principle is given a serious goal in the management of the national income process, we will continue to have the kind of problem we have been having.

But some people see the South-West integration initiative as an ACN agen-da.

The initiative is because of the size of the South-West and the need to collabo-rate because there are many productive ventures, which each state on its own may not be able to address as proficiently as possible. Take the issue of transport for an example, if you need to have a fast train from Lagos to Akure, you will need collaboration. If you want to have a good coaster road to bind the South-West, let say from Lagos, Ogun and Ondo, you will need to have a collaboration. I

f we need to have a common policy on educa-tion for the purpose of the teaching of students at the early stage of five or six years,  there will be need to collaborate to harmonise all the states.

So, integra-tion enables the collaborating states to identify their individual priorities.  And  where the priorities are similar, they can be collapsed into one, to facilitate the size of the economy that they can apply to ensure that delivery is more service efficient in term of delivery, cost and hu-man resources. These are all the param-eters that go into managing integration. The integration is also in respect of all the western states meeting together. So, it is not the question of just the ACN as a party, the Labour Party governor was there and he was part of the process.

How prepared is ACN for Edo State governorship election?

Governor Adams Oshiomhole is not leaving any stone unturned and he is not giving any chance. His campaign has been effective and in any case, his con-duct and performance in office speaks for him. The people of Edo State have seen what he has done in the state during his first tenure. Even those of us who are not from Edo State have visited Edo State when PDP was ruling and we have also visited the state under the watch of Gov-ernor Oshiomhole and we can see the dif-ferences.

The differences are very clear; you can see the road network, drainages and many other remarkable achieve-ments of Oshiomhole’s administration. So, the people of Edo State know which party has served the state’s interest and of course, Governor Oshiomhole, apart from campaigning very well, has worked very hard. There is no doubt in my mind that we will win that election.



Police comb Farouk Lawan’s home for $620,000 bribe cash

Lawan

The police launched a search for the $62,0000 allegedly collected as bribe by Represenative Farouk Lawan from oil magnate, Mr. Femi Otedola, yesterday. 

For two hours, a team of policemen combed the Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja residence of the suspended chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Ad hoc committee on Fuel Subsidy management, looking for the money which they intend to use as possible exhibit against him. 

His lawyers, Mr. Israel Olorundare  (SAN) and Mr.  Sam Ologunorisa (SAN) were not allowed to witness the search. 

Although it was evident that Lawan would spend the weekend in police custody, his lawyers remained hopeful of securing bail for him last night. 

It was gathered that Lawan was taken to his house for the search for the bribe money and other evidence. 

Only $10,000 was found during the search but it was not known whether it was part of the alleged bribe. Lawan is sticking to his resolve to make the money available only in court. 

The police seized his international passport. 

A reliable source said: “They brought the lawmaker from his detention cell in FCID in Area 10 to his residence in the morning for what they termed a‘comprehensive’ search. 

“It was obvious that they were looking desperately for bribe sum, having screened Lawan’s accounts and discovered that it was not deposited in any bank. 

“Throughout the interrogation, the lawmaker was adamant in not disclosing where the bribe sum was kept. He said since Otedola said it was a sting operation, the onus lies on those who conducted same to produce the bribe sum.” 

This did not stop the STF coordinator, CP Ali Amodu and his team from continuing with their questioning of Lawan at the Force Headquarters. 

A top police source said: “We are still investigating him; we are not in a hurry to release him on bail at all. He might be here till Monday or Tuesday when we would have finished our preliminary findings and submit a report to the IGP. 

“It is true we searched his house but we discovered that because of the time lag, he had taken time to clear his residence of vital evidence. 

“But we are exploring other clues. That is why we are detaining him till next week. Our target is to locate the bribe sum and retrieve it.” 

On the $10,000 found in the house, the police source said: “Even though we were looking for something bigger, like $1 million, we could only get $10,000 from his house. 

“We could not achieve much in getting the bribe sum because he came on his own. We did not surprise him. Police record more success with surprise search. 

“But we have seized his international passports. He cannot travel till we have concluded our investigation.” 

His lead counsel, Mr. Olorundare (SAN) said: “It is true they retrieved $10,000 from his house. And when Lawan was asked, he told the police ‘I travel a lot, even at short notice. You should expect me to have some money at home.’ 

“It was disappointing that the police told us at about 6 pm that they are not going to release him. They said they are still investigating the case. 

“We are surprised that they could do that. We hope that they will allow sanity to prevail. 

“But if they detain him beyond what is legally allowed within the law of the land, we will certainly go to court to secure bail for him. We insist that the offence is ordinarily bailable.” 

The lawmaker was returned to his cell at the Force CID Annex at Area 10 where some journalists were detained last year. 

“Lawan is sharing cell with other criminals in Area 10 Annex until he secures bail. He was really given a rousing welcome on Thursday night by those he met in detention. 

‘There are VIP, ECOMOG, ABUJA , and other types of cells in the annex.” 

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) was said to have written to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday to take over the case and the prosecution of those found culpable in the bribery saga. 

The letter was delivered to the Chairman of ICPC, Barrister Nta Ekpo. 

“The offence falls within the purview of the ICPC Act, that is why the case has been referred to the agency,” a source familiar with the matter said. 

“The case file will certainly go to ICPC next week for prosecution of any suspect with prima facie case.” 

Otedola