NEWS
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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 17, 2012
$620,000 bribe: Lawan, Police disagree over bail terms E
MBATTLED Representative Farouk Lawan returned home from police custody yesterday but under one condition: he must produce the alleged $620,000 bribe not later than this week, according to a police source. He had been in detention for 72 hours. His lawyer however dismissed any such suggestion. Mr. Israel Olorundare (SAN) said his client signed no such undertaking.
Car bombs kill 26 in Iraq
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WO car bombs in Iraq's capital killed at least 26 people yesterday on the last day of a Shiite pilgrimage already hit by multiple bombings. The blasts, one in a heavily guarded area close to a revered shrine, raised the week's death toll to more than 100 and cast further doubt on the divided government's ability to secure the country after the American withdrawal. Black plumes of smoke filled the sky over Baghdad's northern Kadimiyah neighborhood, where the shrine to eighth-century saint Imam Moussa alKadhim draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year. One of the bombs tore into throngs of people who packed the streets nearby, carrying aloft symbolic coffins and beating their chests in mourning to mark his martyrdom. Three days before, nearly two dozen coordinated bombs around the country killed 72 people. Al-Qaida's Iraqi affiliate on Saturday claimed responsibility for that attack, which marked one of the deadliest days in Iraq since the last U.S. troops left in December. The sheer number of blasts during the alKadhim pilgrimage shows the ability of al-Qaida to retain and perhaps rebuild its bombings networks despite heavy blows struck to the organization by U.S. forces and allied Sunni militias prior to the American withdrawal. The bombers' ability to penetrate so close to the shrine indicates the challenges faced by Iraq's security forces in securing huge religious gatherings.
From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation
Lawan who was suspended by his colleagues as Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Ad hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Management, at an emergency session on Friday, has hired four Senior Advocates of Nigeria including Olorundare to handle his case. The others are: Mr. Rickey Tarfa , Mr. Sam Ologunorisa , and Chief Mike Ozekhome . The Commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Task Force (STF), Mr. Ali Amodu granted Lawan bail at about 4pm yesterday in the presence of one of the counsels, Tarfa. The bail was contingent on, according to a police source, a written undertaking by Lawan to produce the alleged bribe sum of $620,000. His international passport which was seized by the police during a search on his residence in Abuja on Friday has not been released. It was gathered that the police decided to grant him bail to avoid running afoul of the law which prohibits detention without trial be-
yond 24 hours. It was also learnt that the police got intelligence report that Lawan’s counsel were planning a N500million suit for detaining the lawmaker beyond the provision of the law. Another source said since the case will now be handled by the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, it might start suo moto ,thus making Lawan’s bail inevitable. A police source said: “We have granted Lawan bail but his movement is still restricted to Nigeria. We still have his international and diplomatic passports with
us.
“The good thing is that the House will resume sitting on Tuesday, he has cause to be in the country. “As part of the bail bond, we insisted on a written undertaking that he will provide the bribe sum and give it to the police. He is due to report at the Force Head-
• Minister of State, Foreign Affairs , Prof. Viola Onwuliri , during a requiem service for her late husband, Prof. Celestine Onwuliri at the Catholic Church in Abuja, yesterday. He died in the Dana Air crash in Lagos on June 3 Photo: ABAYOMI FAYESE
quarters on Monday. “So, we expect him to either produce the bribe sum on Monday or anytime next week. We know he has hidden the bribe sum, he will now go to where he kept it for retrieval.” On why the Police granted Lawan bail, the source added: “If you are in charge of enforcing law, you must also respect the law. “We did not want to keep him in custody beyond the days allowed by the law. Or else, the case will assume a new dimension of violation of human rights.” One of Lawan’s counsels , Olorundare, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “Yes, Lawan has been granted bail with an undertaking. We are battle ready for any legal action.” But contacted last night, Olorundare disputed the police claim that Farouk wrote an undertaking to bring the $620,000. He said: “Based on what Lawan told me, he said he wrote an undertaking to facilitate how to get to the chairman of the House committee on Narcotics, Drugs and Financial Crimes, Adams Jagaba whom they want to ask questions about the whereabouts of the bribe sum. “To the best of my knowledge, he did not say he will produce the bribe sum. Even in the undertaking, he did not give any timeframe when he will link up with Jagaba but it might be before the end of next week.”
You’re a sinking man, House blasts Otedola
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HE House of Representatives is not yet done with the oil baron, Mr. Femi Otedola, the central figure in the $620,000 alleged bribe which has led to the suspension of Mallam Farouk Lawan as Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Ad hoc Committee on fuel Subsidy Management. The House described Otedola as “a sinking man” after the oil baron dismissed the decision of the Reps to restore Zenon Oil and Gas Limited and Synopsis Enterprises Limited, believed to be owned by him, in the list of oil importers indicted by the ad hoc committee as corruptly receiving oil subsidy. He had called the decision as laughable and a celebration of corruption. He also said he suspected that Lawan could not have acted alone in allegedly extorting bribe from him. Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Zakari Mohammed, responding to Otedola’s allegation, challenged him to name Lawan’s conspirators. The House, he declared, acted within the rule of law by its decision and did not celebrate corruption as being alleged by Otedola.
From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation
He said: “As an institution, we won’t join words with Mr. Femi Otedola. His case is that of a sinking man. As far as we are concerned in this country, for every personality that claims to be straightforward, we know his or her background, antecedents, way of life and means of doing business. “On his allegation that Mr. Farouk Lawan could not have acted alone, the House of Representatives is asking Otedola to name others. He who alleges must prove beyond reasonable doubt. We have made ourselves available as open as possible with what we did on Friday.” He continued: “To say that we are celebrating corruption is mischievous and unfair. I think any patriotic and conscientious Nigerian should appreciate that what we did was a show of transparency and allowing the rule of law. “We support anti-corruption campaign; we will not waiver in our commitment to this. We cannot be the investigator, the prosecutor and the judge at the same time. We decided to
allow the law to take its course.” He denied suggestion that the Reps were witchhunting Otedola. “Since the removal of Zenon Oil and Gas from the list of those having issues to answer became questionable, we felt there is need for a thorough investigation into the matter. “The Ad Hoc Committee is re-examining allegations against those 17 companies who allegedly obtained foreign exchange without importing products. Otedola should go back to the committee instead of rushing to the press. “Certainly, there is no question of witch-hunt at all. As an institution, we are above partisanship.” On the mix-up of figures by the House on the actual amount credited to Zenon, Mohammed added: “Whatever complaint he has about figures, he should channel it to that committee rather than hastily running to the press.” The House spokesman assured Nigerians that it would be more courageous in conducting its affairs to earn more dividends of democracy for the populace. He said: “We will con-
tinue to be focused, we will avoid distraction. We have resolved to be more courageous on the Nigerian Project targeted at delivering more dividends to Nigerians who are our employers.” Otedola had, in his reaction to the position of the House on him, said: “I have stated the facts in my interview with ThisDay newspaper and nothing but the facts. That Farouk Lawan demanded $3 million from me and because I refused to oblige him he included the name of Zenon amongst those who bought forex without importing petroleum products. He did this without even asking Zenon to produce a single document of the forex transaction. He clearly wanted to extort money for an offence I did not commit. That is why I went to report to the security agencies. If I had anything to hide I wouldn’t have gone to the agencies. There is an old adage that says “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”. “Moreover it is not possible to purchase $232, 975,385.13 from CBN without importing the product. The total figure is not even
$232, 975,385.13 million as alleged but $372, 207, 990. They should go and amend the report to read $372, 207, 990 which is the correct figure. It is not possible to purchase this volume of forex from the CBN with first class banks such as Access bank, FCMB, GTB, UBA and an international bank BNP Paribas which is one of the biggest and most respected banks in the world. “If people at my level who have worked hard to build their businesses can be blackmailed this way all in a bid to extort money from them, I pity people that are just starting out in business in this country. In all my business dealings I have always been above board and the records are there to prove. As far as I know Lawan could not have been working alone in this extortionist plot. A tree does not make a forest. Let me also state for the records that we are not in any way affiliated to the other company Synopsis enterprises Ltd also included in the report. Actions of today by the House is laughable, a mere celebration of corruption and a further indictment on their honourable member.”