I was bribed with $500000 only -Lawan

Chairman, House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee Monitoring the Fuel Subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan, confessed  that he collected $620,000 from the Chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola.

Lawan had denied that neither he nor any member of the committee collected money from any of the oil marketers, told reporters in Abuja that he actually collected $500,000 from Otedola, whom he accused of offering him the money to influence the probe panel’s report.

He claimed he had informed the Chairman of the House Committee on Narcotic Drugs and Financial Crimes, Hon. Adams Jagaba, through a letter dated April 24, 2012 of Otedola’s alleged persistence to bribe him to influence the outcome of the investigation.

Lawan said “the sum of five hundredthousand dollars only offered to me with another promise of two million, five hundred thousand dollars” were attached to the letter.

On why he did not raise the issue on the floor of the House, he said he declined to do so as not to divert attention from the essence of the fuel subsidy probe.

Lawan, in a statement in which he gave a detailed account of what transpired between him and Otedola, said: “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 butdiplomatic manner is necessary as he has also made some veiled threats which put me and members of the committee in a delicate situation.”

He also said that the ad hoc committee’s secretary, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, whom Otedola had said collected $120,000 on his (Lawan’s) behalf informed him that Otedola offered him $100,000.

According to Lawan, Emenalo did this through an April 24 letter he wrote to him. Emenalo’s letter reads: “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.”