The embattled former Chairman of the house adhoc committee on oil subsidy probe appeared by the house committee on ethic today to answer questions over allegations of bribery leveled against him by the shady oil mogul and chief executive officer of Zenon Oil, Femi Otedola.Hon Farouk Lawan appeared today June 28, 2012 before the committee.
The session between the committee on ethics and Hon. Farouk Lawan was made a closed door session – with journalist barred from entry into the session. As a result, the details of the session was not readily available through official sources.
However unofficial sources within the lower chamber of the national assembly revealed to 247ureport.com that Hon. Farouk Lawan was quizzed in a friendly manner – with a soft tone. He was asked if he collected the money from Femi Otedola. Hon Lawan was said to answer in the affirmative but maintained that he took the money as evidence. A member of the committee then inquired whether the money was still available to be presented as evidence. Hon. Lawan responded with an answer that was neither a yes or a no – this is according to a source – who also added that police had indicated that Hon. Farouk Lawan had used the whole $620,000 – as both the deputy clerk of the house and Hon Adams had denied even holding any kobo of the money – that “the whole $620,000 is with Hon. Farouk Lawan“.
But the source noted that the body language of the committee members depicts a group leaning towards giving the embattled honorable member a soft-landing. He added that the exercise, which was intentionally made a secret, was to dig into the activities of the oil mogul with the hope to find enough to hang on him. As gathered, the members are generally unhappy with the events that unfolded against the embattled chairman and the entirety of the house of representative. Of particular concern was why the sting operation hatched by the Otedola group not arrest Hon. Lawan at the scene immediately following the alleged crime of bribery – when the alleged marked money was still in his possession.
The embattled Honorable member was asked whether he indeed went to the home of the oilmogul to collect the alleged bribe money. He answer was not clear.
Femi Otedola is expected to appear before the committee tomorrow June 29, 2012.
Meanwhile, the honorable member representing a constituency in Bauchi, Hon. Umar Abubakar Sade is said to have become a person of interest to the investigating committee and the police. Hon. Sade was part of the oil subsidy probe adhoc committee which Hon Farouk Lawan chaired. The Bauchi honorable member is said to have also collected bribe money from A. A. Rano and MRS for the same purposes.
stay tuned
