Farouk Lawan, the federal lawmaker alleged to have solicited and collected $620,000 bribe money from oil magnate, Femi Otedola, has told investigating police officers that he will produce the money on Tuesday.
Lawan, who has been suspended as the chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating alleged fraud in the fuel subsidy payments, visited the Louis Edet House headquarters of the Force Criminal Investigations Department as part of his bail conditions.
Lawan is accused of having personally collected $500,000 from Otedola, while the Secretary of the ad-hoc committee, Boniface Emenalo, allegedly collected $120,000.
The duo, accompanied by their lawyers, asked police investigators to allow them report on Tuesday afternoon rather than in the morning to enable them attend the plenary session of the House and retrieve the money from the House Committee Chairman on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Adam Jagaba.
Lawan had said he reported the bribe to Jagaba and was acting to expose Otedola's corrupt practices. He also claimed to have handed the money over to Jagaba.
However, Jagaba had earlier denied this claim, saying that neither he nor his committee got any letter from Lawan in which he reported the pressure by Otedola to induce him to remove his company, Zenon Oil and Gas, from the list of indicted firms in the report. He also denied receiving any money from Lawan.
Lawan’s expected presence in the House plenary, which resumes sitting on Tuesday, will give him the opportunity to tell his own side of the story to his colleagues. He was in detention last Friday when the House held its emergency session where he was suspended as chairman of the ad-hoc committee as well as the Committee on Education; while the Ethics and Privilege Committee was directed to investigate the allegations against him.
Lawan's travails has reportedly upset federal lawmakers from his home state of Kano, as it is gathered that some of them have protested the way he has been treated by the House.
However, Lawan has backed the actions of the House. "I endorse the decision of the House regarding my privileges in it's entirety," he said on his Twitter account. "I trust that the truth shall come out at the end. I acknowledge the noble intentions of my colleagues to ensure a transparent investigation."-DAILY TIMES
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