ballabriggs: Thisday Newspaper and Nduka Obaigbena, spokesman of the subsidy cabal. Is this the blackmail we've always known Thisday for? Time will tell.

ThisDay is not sahara,pm news, daily trust and the likes. I don't know them of blackmail. Farouq is not clean as he claims and appears. Let's wait and see how it unfolds.

Beaf: Those people shouting "show is the video" are little more than fools.
If you want to see the video, the best place to scream foolishly is not NL; take your placards to Yellow House Abuja (SSS headquarters). Lock the place down and see whether you won't be forced to leave the place with a higher IQ slapped in through your ears. LolZZ!

I tire for the foolz, cos Farouk Lawan hasnt denied receiving the bribe, the idiot even suggested that Otedola, charter plane to bring the balance of $2.5m to make it ....$3.12m

^
Lol! Imagine a self declared saint asking for dollars to be flown in by chattered aircraft! Wonders!

fesse:

ThisDay is not sahara,pm news, daily trust and the likes. I don't know them of blackmail. Farouq is not clean as he claims and appears. Let's wait and see how it unfolds.

You think ballabriggs doesn't know that? He is part of an NL clique that represents all thats criminal.

hmmmmmmm let's not get things mixed up here... We all know Otedola is more of a devil than a business..infact that is a stale news. But now let's see it this way: God has used a bigger devil to catch a smaller devil. Infact Farouk is d bigger devil here..because in my own estimation a pretender/hypocrite is d greatest devil one can ever think of...imagine someone that is supposed to help us catch thieves. Even if its 1000naira he requested for we should not care..for those of us that followed d subsidy probe live on TV, u can't blame us for coming hard on Farouk, he successfully hid d deception in him we could not have imagined he would do a thing like this. This is not to say Otedola is a saint/hero but if the allegations are true, let's just see it as a case of God exposing devilish FaroukLawan.

“The present mudslinging is not unexpected in view of the calibre of people whose actions and inactions were found wanting in the report,” he said. “I am aware that in their desperation to discredit the report and divert the attention of the public from the real issues of large scale fraud in high places established in our report, a video footage displaying a caricature of my person allegedly having a dealing with a marketer reminiscent of the military era when dignitaries were invited to the Villa to watch a video clip of a phantom coup involving Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is already in circulation.”

Anyone care to explain why Farouk would offer this particular line of defense?
What does caricature of my person mean?
Think deep folks

A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness, or in literature, a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.

Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.
The term is derived from the Italian caricare: to charge or load. An early definition occurs in the English doctor Sir Thomas Browne's Christian Moral:

I was opportuned to watch one of the northern marketers being probed. When a particular question was asked and he couldn't answer, Farouk told him not to worry for he is covered. So Farouk must have collected money from him.

kkk17: hmm!! How intriguing. Let's see the video then we shall conclude. House of assembly and bribe! Just like african tales and tortoise.

U̶̲̥̅̊ made ά perfect comparison there! I don tire for ϑ kind of films dem ‎​D̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣̥γ̲ show for lawmakers ' chambers

"The security agencies, he disclosed, gave him serialised dollar bills for the sting job and there are call logs, video and audio recordings in the possession of the agencies to confirm all that had transpired between himself and Lawan."

This is a classic mumbo jumbo. Farouk Lawan is not just your average politician, he's above par in brilliance. I'm not sure if Otedola and ThisDay knows with whom they're toying.

Do I trust Rep. Lawan will never soil his hand in corruption? Absolutely not. He's a politician, he'll be foolish if he's not corrupt. Given Nigerian standard that is.

My point: this is too cheap an allegation to nail a sagacious persona, Otedola should walk back the statement and re strategize.

Lawan is a mess up and i used to love his comments on the floor of the house, thinking he is a trustworthy fellow. Thank God he has been nabbed...

waja: I was opportuned to watch one of the northern marketers being probed. When a particular question was asked and he couldn't answer, Farouk told him not to worry for he is covered. So Farouk must have collected money from him.

That was Farouks game, to capture the petroleum market to finance their '2015 for North"' illness and own Nigeria through the backdoor. That is why NL's "born to rule" king, ballabriggs and his dark angels have been flying pretty hard over this matter.

I pledge to Nigeria my country to be faithful, loyal and honest. To serve Nigeria with all my strength, to defend her unity and uphold her honour & glory. So help me God.

i just hope it's not the whole event that transpired in the porpular movie '24' by jack bauer-Keifer shuderland- that is actualizing in Nigeria. God help us.

Samoo01: "The security agencies, he disclosed, gave him serialised dollar bills for the sting job and there are call logs, video and audio recordings in the possession of the agencies to confirm all that had transpired between himself and Lawan."

This is a classic mumbo jumbo. Farouk Lawan is not just your average politician, he's above par in brilliance. I'm not sure if Otedola and ThisDay knows with whom they're toying.

Do I trust Rep. Lawan will never soil his hand in corruption? Absolutely not. He's a politician, he'll be foolish if he's not corrupt. Given Nigerian standard that is.

My point: this is too cheap an allegation to nail a sagacious persona, Otedola should walk back the statement and re strategize.

The same view I take on this scandal.

“I reminded him that the amount ascribed to Zenon was wrong as what the company bought was over $400 million for importation of products through the banks – Zenith, UBA and GTB – and that under Sanusi (CBN governor) there was no way anyone could have bought that quantity of foreign exchange and not imported the products having filled the Form M.

“Sanusi will simply clamp down on anyone who tries to pull that kind of stunt,” he said.
In spite of this, Otedola said Lawan still demanded that the members of the committee be given money in exchange for removing Zenon’s name from the report before it is considered in plenary by the entire House.

Yet you felt insecure enough to turn to Nation's security forces?
It flies in the face of logic from where I stand.

Why are you guys not shouting GEJ today? Guess is GEJ that asked Farouq to demand for 3 million dollars ransom bribe. Set of people that will not appreciate a govt. dat is making everything public for you to see and hear.

OBJ, Otedola are all criminals, they are out to deceive people that Hon. Farouk Lawal collected bribe all to divert attention from the report. CABAL are fighting back; but I refused to believe their gimmicks.

If you believe this story, then be assured that the cassava bread and ogogoro you've taken this morning is of superior quality.

Rewind

ballabriggs: I was going to believe a bit of this story before, but with Reno Omokri all over this thread trying real hard to push this story, it takes an idi0t not to know where this is coming from. There is blackmail written all over.

Beaf: [size=14pt]Fuel Subsidy Probe: Otedola Confirms Bribe to Lawmakers[/size]
11 Jun 2012
By Yemi Ajayi in Lagos, Ike Abonyi, Onwuka Nzeshi and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

•SSS sends videotape to EFCC

The full details of the $3 million bribery scandal involving members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Fuel Subsidy probe were revealed yesterday, as one of the major actors in the scandal has opened up on what transpired.

In an exclusive interview with THISDAY, chairman, Zenon Petroleum & Gas Ltd, Mr. Femi Otedola, who hitherto was suspected of being behind the $3 million bribery scandal, blew the lid on what transpired and how chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Hon. Farouk Lawan, and the secretary of the committee, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, had collected $620,000 from him in a sting operation masterminded by the security agencies.

The amount was part payment for the $3 million, which he alleged Lawan had demanded from him to exonerate Zenon Oil from the ad-hoc committee’s report.

As the scandal unfolds, it was learnt that operatives of the State Security Services have sent a video recording of the incident to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further scrutiny and action.

Otedola, who was opening up on the issue for the first time, narrated how Lawan at the outset of the probe had approached him to get some insight into the workings of the downstream oil and gas sector.

Otedola said he obliged him and ensured that his managing directors of Forte Oil Plc and Zenon Oil appeared at the subsidy probe during its public hearing after both companies had been invited by the committee.

During the probe, he said the committee was informed in no uncertain terms that Zenon does not and has never made claims for subsidy payments from the federal government, as the company was engaged solely in the importation of diesel, a product that is not subsidised.
Zenon’s managing director, Mr. Kanmi Kareem Otaru, during the probe had denied that the company had anything to do with the subsidy regime. He told the committee, “For the avoidance of doubt Zenon never participated or benefited from the subsidy scheme or Petroleum Support Fund (PSF).”

According to him, going by the Act which established the PSF scheme, “Zenon couldn’t participate in it because we don’t have a network of PMS retail outlets which was one of the key criteria beneficiaries must meet and as such we are not qualified to participate to draw from subsidy payments on PMS. So we never collected as records will show.”

Irrespective of the clarification made at the hearing, Otedola said Lawan still approached him a few days before the report was to be tabled on April 18, 2012 before the House of Representatives, demanding money so that Zenon’s name will be kept out of the report.
“When this happened, I was very angry and reminded him that Zenon has never participated in the subsidy scheme and that it would be criminal to rope in the company for something it did not do.

“But Lawan responded, stating that several other marketers were playing ball and had offered the members of the committee large sums of money to ensure that their companies’ names were not published in the report,” he added.

Otedola, said initially he balked at Lawan’s attempt to extort money from him and told the legislator that he would not pay up, as Zenon had not committed any crime.

“Then a day before the report was to be submitted, Lawan called again, informing me that Zenon’s name had been included in the report.
“I, of course, was very angry and asked him to desist from his course of action, but Lawan insisted that I must pay up as other oil marketers had done before me.”

Otedola said he could not believe his eyes the next day when the report came out and Zenon’s name had been listed under the category of companies that had bought foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but had not imported petrol.

The amount ascribed to Zenon in the report was $232,975,385.13. The report had recommended that Zenon and 14 other marketers that had bought the foreign exchange be referred to the anti-corruption agencies to determine what they used the monies for.
Otedola said at this point he again called Lawan demanding that Zenon’s name be removed from the list, as there was no way his company could have bought that volume of foreign exchange without importing products.

“I reminded him that the amount ascribed to Zenon was wrong as what the company bought was over $400 million for importation of products through the banks – Zenith, UBA and GTB – and that under Sanusi (CBN governor) there was no way anyone could have bought that quantity of foreign exchange and not imported the products having filled the Form M.

“Sanusi will simply clamp down on anyone who tries to pull that kind of stunt,” he said.
In spite of this, Otedola said Lawan still demanded that the members of the committee be given money in exchange for removing Zenon’s name from the report before it is considered in plenary by the entire House.

Otedola said he then asked how much would be required to make the committee happy, to which Lawan responded $3 million.
“I screamed at him, demanding to know why he was doing this to me. All he said was other marketers were paying up to keep their names out of the report so I should do likewise,” he said.

Otedola revealed that it was this point he decided to involve the security agencies to catch Lawan and his committee with their hands in the till.

According to him, “As a law-abiding citizen, I decided to involve the security agencies and they advised me to play along, which prompted me to offer to pay part of the money with the promise that I would pay the balance when my company’s name had been removed from the report."

The security agencies, he disclosed, gave him serialised dollar bills for the sting job and there are call logs, video and audio recordings in the possession of the agencies to confirm all that had transpired between himself and Lawan.

He said on April 21, the Saturday before the plenary, Lawan came in person to his residence and collected $250,000 in cash, as the first instalment, “then the next Monday night he came and collected another $250,000.

“On Tuesday, at 9am, just before the House commenced seating, Boniface came and collected another $120,000.”
Otedola confirmed that during the sting, Lawan and Boniface collected a total of $620,000 in three instalments as part of the $3 million demanded from him.

He added that with the $620,000 that had been extorted by Lawan and the committee, during the plenary, Zenon’s name was removed from the list of companies that had bought foreign exchange but did not import products.

Otedola continued: “He (Lawan) now asked for the balance of $2.5 million, but when I told him that I had no money now that the money was in Lagos, he suggested that I should charter a plane to fly the money from Lagos to Abuja.”

Otedola stressed that his decision to get the law enforcement and security agencies involved stemmed from the fact that he had not broken any law, maintaining that as a law-abiding citizen, he was saddened by the fact that he was being blackmailed by of all people, members of the legislature.

“If you have information that an armed robber is come to raid your home, won’t you notify the police? So, that was the purpose of the sting operation.

“Besides, my integrity is paramount to me. I started selling petroleum products 14 years ago in drums and somebody who has never run a petrol station is trying to blackmail and extort money from me.
“If others (marketers) have paid money, maybe they are guilty. But I did not do anything wrong, so why should they extort money from me? As a law-abiding citizen, I had to involve the security agencies. Indeed, I’m very disappointed because I have worked hard to build my business.”

Insisting that he had nothing to hide or fear over what had happened, Otedola maintained if he was in the wrong he would not have involved the security agencies in the first instance.

In a reference to the strong denials made by Lawan since the scandal became public, Otedola stated, “When he (Lawan) demanded the bribe, I called the agencies. That is because I had nothing to hide. When the bribe was paid, why did he not call and report it to the agencies if he had nothing to.”

Meanwhile, THISDAY gathered that the videotape of the illicit transaction had been sent to the EFCC to investigate the incident.
When contacted, the EFCC, however, said it had neither received the videotape nor had it commenced investigations into the bribery scandal.

EFCC Head of the Media Unit, Mr. Wilson Uwugiaren, said the allegation had not been brought to the knowledge of the commission.
According to him, the only related matter currently being handled by the EFCC was the report of the ad-hoc committee that the commission was studying to establish the facts and track down anyone found culpable for the alleged mismanagement of the PSF.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fuel-subsidy-probe-otedola-confirms-bribe-to-lawmakers/117757/

STORY STORY!!!
Nollywood Movie Script

So, whose report shud we bliv Stewpeed old men!!!

fesse:

ThisDay is not sahara,pm news, daily trust and the likes. I don't know them of blackmail. Farouq is not clean as he claims and appears. Let's wait and see how it unfolds.

Poo! We've not forgotten in a haste Nduka's defence of the Abacha days when interviewed on CNN. We've not forgotten Nduka's attempt to blackmail Fashola for an award.

aieromon: The video will clear the doubt,if indeed it exists.
Waiting. . . .

Yep!

We must not be carried away by the press. We must watch the outcome of all these. Otedola and the oil baron on one side, PDP, in another side. National house of assembly on another side. May God saves us all

why hasnt Otedola being arrested since?

The moment otedola involved the sss,he exonerated himself of any possible indictment as the law goes. Farouk lawan got loads of intergrity besmirching qurries to clear up. Otedola might not be a saint but life as a game must be played to win and he has not only done just that but has done it real good.

Let me get something straight, as am confused. Tot Otedola said he involved the security agencies; is in possession of a video clip n gave out sterilised dollar note as being directed by the agencies. The question is- what the heck are them waiting for?

A illitrate calling civilised ppl fools. If d bribery scam cn b discussed in nairaland so also d video can b demanded for on nairaland. Who says GEJ as president dos not knw nairaland? Farouk lawal hd a public probe,any objections or allegations against him shld also be made publicly with evidence for all to see. The cartel and presidential election financiers are powerful and are capable of anything. Up lawal & co.

Beaf: And the brigade of fools arrives!

lolz,there could be more on the way o,we are talking of national rouges and some peeps are chewing hard air.

Afolabs101: We have to be careful here as the House Probe Report is IMO the most serious probe report that has been released in Nigeria's history. We're talking of allegations of fraud of over N1 trillion.

Tanbuwal needs to investigate this and demand a copy of the video and if Farouk Lawan collected that bribe, he should be prosecuted immediately. But then that will be the end of the probe because thats all GEJ needs to throw it out.

A possible scenario however:

1- SSS claims to have videos of Lawan collecting bribes from Otedola.
2- Otedola corroborates this to the media and general public.
3- EFCC invite him for a couple of days to discuss the allegations.
4- Lawan is charged to court.
5- Fed Govt say they can not act on a report in which the Chairman is accused of soliciting for and collecting a bribe from one of the subjects in the report.
6- After many adjournments and delays, Lawan's case is discharged for lack of evidence one year later.
7- No video tape is ever released and there is no proof that a video ever existed.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that Farouk Lawan is innocent or guilty, let me see the video before I judge!

U don see naija finish.

This shouldn't be a problem,the big man in a small body has a distinctly unique voice;the audio tape evidence is just enough to indict him.

What I want to know is y the EFCC media guy will b denying knowledge of the video or even the sting operation. How is it that all this still isn't enuf for both lawn n otedola to b publicly investigated. What has happened to d DOO bill dat nobody has access to d video?

We can all see the level corruption has decay this country.So,we need someone that is corruption free or less,because in Nigeria of today if you are trying to fight corruption ,corruption will be fighting you back.Otedola is corrupt the lawmakers are corrupt!!Believing me,nothing tangible will come out of this probe

one of the fat grubs churned out of that world class woodworks producing overnight billionaires in Nigeria, Femi Otedola also could fare well as a writer of fiction. I mean, here's a well crafted story; replete with suspense and political intrigue- an obvious bestseller.

still can't manage to suspend my disbelief though.

there are a host of questions to ask, amongst which is:

Why was Zenon still named in the probe, if Otedola had curiously "agreed" to pay up after an avalanche of solicitous calls from Lawan?

Why pay a "cover up" fee when there is nothing to cover up?

Which other personality/entity whether phantom, real or zombie received Farouk Lawan's "pay or be exposed" phone calls apart from Zenon?

Over to you, Mr. Otedola