Farouk Lawan dares police to release video/call logs •As Reps probe Otedola, SSS sting operation

Written by Olawale Rasheed, Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel, Abuja Monday, 02 July 2012

SUSPENDED chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee that investigated the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy regime, Honourable Farouk Lawan, has challenged the police and other security agencies to produce call logs and video clips of his encounter with Mr Femi Otedola.

This is just as he insisted that he reported the attempted bribe to the police a month before Otedola addressed the press on the issue.

This is coming as the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges is set to summon Otedola to give his own side of the story, even as reports indicated that Lawan has requested for a face-to-face encounter with Otedola before the House probe committee.

In two separate petitions sent to the Inspector General of Police and made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the lawmaker declared that he was the complainant in the bribery saga, as he reported the entire incident to the relevant House committee and the police authorities in addition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as far back as May 10.

The petitions, signed on behalf of the lawmaker by four Senior Advocates of Nigeria, argued that a public inspection of the call logs and video would confirm that Otedola was the bribe giver, adding that the “call logs, text messages and transcript of phone conversations as well as video footage will reveal that it was Mr Otedola who offered $3,000,000 to our client.”

The petition also affirmed that contrary to reports, Otedola, indeed, brought the first part of the bribe to the lawmaker`s hotel room, adding that the oil marketer traced him to Apo Protea Hotel, where he handed over documents to exonerate his company and afterwards handed over the money to the lawmaker.

On why he collected the bribe at all, the lawmaker noted that “the veiled threats by Mr Otedola have added to the barrage of calls some, up to 20 calls per day, especially on the night of 20th of April 2012, when there were over 30 of such calls,” adding that “on one night alone, he received about 50 missed calls from Mr Otedola.”

The second part the petition further noted was handed to him when he visited Otedola on his invitation to collect three other documents that proved his companies were not involved in the subsidy fraud, adding that both bribe payments were then reported to the relevant House committee as well as the police authorities.

On why Otedola`s company was delisted from the list of indicted companies, the petition affirmed that Zenon Oil was delisted on the strength of the documents submitted by Otedola, adding that of the two companies indicted, only one of the companies was removed from the list.

Complete story here http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/43454-farouk-lawan-dares-police-to-release-videocall-logs-as-reps-probe-otedola-sss-sting-operation

I think the police should heed his request lets all see

Oya now . . .make police or the SSS release the feem gif us jare . . . . .

Farouk bera wait very patiently until the damning evidence is provided in court.

They know the evidence will cause Farouk to be judged by the public which will create a situation where they can claim pre-trial prejudice as a result (and therefore, dismiss the case on a technicality). They think they are smart! Lol!

Fail.

Good job![img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]

Lawyers done de fear court nowadays?
Show the public court evidence indeed! Lol!

Beaf: Farouk bera wait very patiently until the damning evidence is provided in court.

They know the evidence will cause Farouk to be judged by the public which will create a situation where they can claim pre-trial prejudice as a result (and therefore, dismiss the case on a technicality). They think they are smart! Lol!

Fail.

You follow American politics too much. FYI, there is nothing like pre-trial prejudice in Nigeria. We dont have jury trials. The judge, already bribed by the side with the most money, is the alpha and omega of the trial.

Me like it that way.

I wonder why only a brief portion of the call was released. Not sufficient to nail anyone. My gut feeling is that the national assembly and some other fellows are supporting farouk. this seems to be the reason for slow progress of this case.

Its very clear that by the time we get to the bottom of this if we ever do; a lot of big names in the house will be implicated

Piyke: I wonder why only a brief portion of the call was released. Not sufficient to nail anyone. My gut feeling is that the national assembly and some other fellows are supporting farouk. this seems to be the reason for slow progress of this case.

Its very clear that by the time we get to the bottom of this if we ever do; a lot of big names in the house will be implicated

Of course the national assembly is behind the man.why do you think they''ve been having closed door meetings with him when abnitio they should have dissociated themselves from him.And for the benefit of those looking at it from the surface,i'm sure something/someone big is involved.

You mean the speaker?

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Beaf: Farouk bera wait very patiently until the damning evidence is provided in court.

They know the evidence will cause Farouk to be judged by the public which will create a situation where they can claim pre-trial prejudice as a result (and therefore, dismiss the case on a technicality). They think they are smart! Lol!

Fail.

do you even know hhow the judicial system in nigeria operates?what do you mean by pre-judicial prejudice in a case where only one person a.k.a the judge will weight the strenght of the evidence and decide on the case?you probably mean the judge will be swayed by public opinion.well as of now,public oopinion is against lawan and i doubt he'd think a release of the call logs will get him public sympathy unless he is confident of the content.

From the way this investigation is going its increasingly looking like nothing will come out of it, just like almost all the other bribery scandals