Femi Otedola vs Farouk Lawan: The Allegations & Counter-Allegations of the $620,000 Bribery Scandal

It is one thing to deny collecting a bribe. It sort of puts one in the clear, at least until proven guilty. But it is an entirely different thing to reiterate such statement later on saying you actually collected the bribe just to expose the ‘giver’ of the bribe.

Such is the nature of the controversy currently raging between the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee that probed the fuel subsidy regime, Hon. Farouk Lawan, and the Chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola.

In an earlier testimony, Hon. Lawan denied collecting a $620,000 fuel subsidy bribe from Mr. Otedola.

In response to news reports circulating on the alleged bribe, Hon. Lawan, initially issued a statement denying his involvement in the scam.

My attention has been drawn to several newspapers and internet stories alleging that a prominent member of the House Adhoc Committee on Petroleum subsidy demanded and received the sum of $600,000.00 as bribe from an oil marketer.

I wish to categorically deny that I or any member of the committee demanded and received any bribe from anybody in connection with the fuel subsidy probe and I believe this is evident from the thorough and in depth manner the investigation was carried out and the all-encompassing recommendations produced therefrom as approved by the whole House.

He went on to say that the allegations were in an attempt to discredit the Fuel Subsidy report and divert the attention of the public from the real issues of large scale.

Barely 24 hours later, he reversed his earlier statement and admitted that he collected $620,000 from Mr. Otedola to doctor the panel’s report. He told journalists that he collected the money after Otedola approached him, adding that he informed the police and his colleagues about it.

Otedola, on his part, has agreed offering the money to Lawan; adding that it was part of a sting operation initiated by security agencies after he had reported that the committee demanded $3 million from him not to list his companies as part of those indicted in the report.