The
House of Representatives, on Saturday, admitted that its Ad-Hoc
Committee on Subsidy Regime, headed by Mr. Farouk Lawan, is enmeshed in
$3m bribery allegation.
It described the allegation as ‘weighty’ and promised to investigate the matter.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media
and Public Affairs, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, in a statement, said the House
would not condone corruption, more so that its probe of the N1.7trn fuel
subsidy scam, was an anti-corruption drive.
Its statement reads, “While we await
investigation into these weighty accusations, we wish to state without
equivocation that this House will never take sides with corruption and
we will always stand on the side of the rule of law.
“The reason we inaugurated the ad hoc
committee to look into the controversial subsidy regime in the first
place was to expose corruption in the sector; as such, we cannot, for
whatever reason, support any underhand dealing from any quarter.”
It was gathered that up to late hours on
Saturday, the leadership of the House was in a quandary over how to
handle the brewing scandal.
A lawmaker told our correspondent that
“There have been a series of meetings and it appears there is no way out
of the matter. In the long run, it seems as the lawmaker involved will
face his music.”
A Lagos-based businessman, whose
identity had not been established, was alleged to have given $600,000 to
a Rep, who was a member of the panel that probed the subsidy scam.
Two of the business man’s firms were
listed among the 15 firms the panel said took FOREX for the purpose of
importing fuel but were found not to have used the money as planned.
Another lawmaker said, “From what we have heard so far, the idea was to give a soft-landing to the businessman’s firms.
“I recall that in the course of
considering the probe report, two firms were dropped from the list based
on the committee’s advice, but the firms had been on the list in the
first place.
“From what we have been told, the businessman, unknown to the suspect, recorded the entire meeting between the two of them.
“He has him on tape and he is now using the evidence to blackmail the panel.
“This started happening after the businessman was approached for the balance of the deal.”
Findings indicated that the businessman
allegedly made the tape available to the State Security Service and the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
When our correspondent contacted Lawan for comments on the allegation against his committee, he described it as baseless.
Later, he said, “Our report has spoken
for itself; I should not react to wild stories now that the House is
enjoying very good public assessment.”
He added that if he or any member of the committee wanted to collect money, they would have approached the minister.
Lawan said, “I should have gone to the
minister (Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke)
to collect money; that will be really big. Please, just ignore those
peddling the rumours.”
Opposition party members led by the Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, however expressed shock over the rumour.
He said it would be “disheartening” if the allegation was found to be true.
“It still remains in the realm of
speculation. I do not believe it for now and hope it is not true for the
sake of the House as an institution.”
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