[size=14pt]Subsidy probe: How SSS burst $3m bribery scandal •Oil chief used pen recorder to nail Rep •We won’t side with corruption - House[/size]
Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja Sunday, 10 June 2012

FURTHER details emerged at the weekend on the process through which the State Security Services (SSS) burst the $3 million bribery scandal currently ravaging the House of Representatives adhoc committee which probed the fuel subsidy regime. Investigations by Sunday Tribune confirmed that the Service had been on the trail of all parties involved in the oil subsidy probe from the inception of the high calibre probe embarked on by the Honourable Farouk Lawan-led committee.

The security agency was said to have been alerted by persistent allegations of bribe taking and demand for bribes made against key members of the probe committee.

For instance, it was learnt that some oil marketers were said to have raised the alarm that they were scandalised in the report of the House because they refused to meet some officials of the adhoc committee for closed-door discussions .Sources, however, said the Service was later to approach an oil magnate who was said to have also been asked to pay a certain amount as bribe by some persons fronting for the committee.

But the oil magnate was said to have agreed to help facilitate a proof for the security agency by entering into direct talks with a key member of the adhoc committee.

Sources confirmed that a pen recorder was then made available to the oil chief, who used the same to record his discussions with a top member of the House Committee involved in the bribe scandal.

“The Service got him in audio and in video. He collected the money and they have since invited the leadership of the House of Representatives to watch the film,” a source said, adding, however, that the SSS decided not to dabble into issues that are not strictly linked with security, a development that made it to transfer the tape to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

It was gathered that before handling the investigation of the scam, the Service had shown the video to the leadership of the House, including the speaker, Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Besides the $600,000 said to have been collected by the representative, he was also said to be expecting a balance of $2.4 million after doing the job requested of him by the oil magnate.

But sources in the National Assembly said members of the committee were taken aback by the conduct of their member who was said to have consistently denied taking any bribe during the process of compilation of the report.

“We had suspected along the line that money was exchanging hands. Some people claimed that the sum of $3 million was given to a member by an oil concern in Port Harcourt. Others said another set of industry players doled out the sum of $1 million to get protection in the report.

“In all, it was gathered that about $10 million was involved in the bribe saga.

“The EFCC has been alerted on the possibility of the sum rising to $10 million. The total amount involved in the bribe saga is about $10 million (about N1.5 billion). The money was said to have come from different sources,” one of the sources told Sunday Tribune.

It was learnt that some enraged members of the committee have vowed not to protect any individual over this matter.

Sources, however, said on Saturday that moves were afoot by some powerful forces in Abuja to stall the prosecution of the House member.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives maintained on Saturday that it would not stand with corruption in the face of bribery allegation levelled against the committee.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable Zakari Muhammed, in a statement obtained by Sunday Tribune, said “the attention of the House has been drawn to reports alleging that one of its members has, in the course of his committee work as a member of the ad hoc committee which investigated the subsidy regime, allegedly received a gratification from an oil baron to exonerate his companies from complicity in the oil subsidy scam.”

The lawmaker added that, "while we await investigation into these weighty accusations, we wish to state without equivocation that this honourable House will never take side with corruption and we will always stand on the side of the rule of law.”

The statement also said “the reason we inaugurated the adhoc 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.

“However, these accusations, whatever their merits, do not detract from the quality of the work done by the committee. The report of that committee was adopted by the whole House and we stand by the resolutions of the House.

“The present House of Representatives will not relent in it's efforts to render quality legislation and oversight functions to Nigerians. Today, we are gradually beginning to see the end of this monstrosity that has bedeviled our progress as a nation for so long.

"We hope that the executive will not, because of this allegation, abandon it's commitment towards bringing to justice the culprits already identified in the committee's report.”

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/front-page-articles/7547-subsidy-probe-how-sss-burst-3m-bribery-scandal-oil-chief-used-pen-recorder-to-nail-rep-we-wont-side-with-corruption-house

Imagine Farouk Lawan wanting to scam $10milla in bribes!

NO WONDER OBJ SAID " THOSE PEOPLE(reps) ARE THIEVES". That man never says anything without meaning!! Looks like he had watched the video!!

And they were here deceiving Nigerians that they were fighting for them well as they were filling their pockets.
That's the same probe El Rufai has been screaming about!! Now he will shut his trap.

the circle is complete

gej has indeed learnt well from abacha

this is the same flavor of the 'phantom coups' of the abacha years

it is also very frightening, because it shows just how deeply gej is in the pockets of the likes of otedola and co,

and that he will go to any means to force this subsidy

i wonder if the SSS also provided oteh with a pen of her own

we all know NASS have always been driven by ghana must go - so has the SSS been tracking down other committess, or is this a one off because of gej's desperation to force
his dubious deregulation by discrediting the subsidy report?

more to the point - a country in which crooked businessmen have this kind of access to the SSS is even more frightening

without a doubt, the real goal was to discredit the report - why else did the SSS wait until now? once they had the evidence, they could have acted immediately.

oyb: the circle is complete

gej has indeed learnt well from abacha

this is the same flavor of the 'phantom coups' of the abacha years

it is also very frightening, because it shows just how deeply gej is in the pockets of the likes of otedola and co,

and that he will go to any means to force this subsidy

i wonder if the SSS also provided oteh with a pen of her own

we all know NASS have always been driven by ghana must go - so has the SSS been tracking down other committess, or is this a one off because of gej's desperation to force
his dubious deregulation by discrediting the subsidy report?

more to the point - a country in which crooked businessmen have this kind of access to the SSS is even more frightening

without a doubt, the real goal was to discredit the report - why else did the SSS wait until now? once they had the evidence, they could have acted immediately.

This is stup!d.

Anyway, the simple answer to the bolded lies in the fact that they gave the criminal, Farouk Lawan marked notes. The reason security agencies carry out sting operations with marked notes it to be able to trace those notes wherever they go, whatever account(s) they go into, whatever they buy, whoever they are given to etc.

mr sodis water seller, you have never been known for intelligence - we know you are creaming your pants at gej's use of the SSS to push his agenda of discrediting the report so he can shore up his shrinking standing in international circles

but we are not fooled.

the goal of this exercise was not to catch a thief, but to

1) give otedola, one of the most crooked marketers in the industry - a clean bill of health
2) kill the subsidy report

i wonder why our SSS did not contact oteh or others who have had run ins with NASS - perhaps because they don't have direct access to the presidency?

i wonder why they do not have tapes on the actions of other corrupt legislators like our former speaker.

furthermore, and this is where the abacha angle really comes in - what is the SSS doing in a CRIMINAL investigation? is that not the job of the police/efcc? why would otedola contact the SSS?

how does a businessman even have access to the SSS in the first place?

is there some medium to petition the SSS, or do you talk to your boy in aso rock - i need a soft landing on this

does it mean that, just as in the abacha years, agencies tasked with far more pressing tasks of national security are dedicating their resources to pursing criminal activity by politicians?

or perhaps we should take the spokesmonkey angle that he has been spamming the board with - this is an exercise to rope in tambulawal, el rufai the cabal and any of gej's political 'enemies'

small wonder NASS approved maulag sharp sharp

our SSS is probably holding onto other oil tapes which will be released to efcc if any of gej's bills is rejected

^
It is obvious that you are a dunce.
It was a sting operation that Otedola merely acted a part in, it is natural that the orders to the SSS came from elsewhere.

Beaf: ^
It is obvious that you are a dunce.
It was a sting operation that Otedola merely acted a part in, it is natural that the orders to the SSS came from elsewhere.

What a fool!

you are the dunce who sees nothing wrong with parties tasked with national security engaging in sting operations

small wonder the SSS cannot break boko haram - rather than the gej administraion focus on keeping nigerian safe, they are busy playing nursemaid to the likes of otedola

where boko haram is concerned, they tell nigerians you have to live with it, where destroying a report is concerned, they pull out the video pens

goodluck johnathan abacha - al mustapha's trainees must be running things in the SSS now.

Beaf: ^
It is obvious that you are a dunce.
It was a sting operation that Otedola merely acted a part in, it is natural that the orders to the SSS came from elsewhere.

gej has confirmed that his administartion is of the moguls, by the moguls and for the moguls

http://allafrica.com/stories/201204170251.html

Nigeria: Farouk Lawan Fuel Subsidy Report - 69 Firms to Refund N229.7 Billion to FG
By Edegbe Odemwingie, Chuks Ohuegbe, and Auwal S. Mu'azu, 17 April 2012



The report of the Hon. Farouk Lawan-led House of Representatives committee on the management of fuel subsidy has indicted 69 oil firms for defective transactions, saying that the firms are to refund N229.706 billion to the coffers of the federal government.

the report was out since april

why did the SSS wait all this time since they had hard evidence?

or perhaps in addition to being enforcers for crooked businessmen, thy are now in the business of govt blackmail?

THIS STRING OF CORRUPTION IS IN AN INFINITE LOOP.

HOW DO WE TERMINATE THE SEQUENCE, PEOPLE ??

oyb:


small wonder the SSS cannot break boko haram - rather than the gej administraion focus on keeping nigerian safe, they are busy playing nursemaid to the likes of otedola

where boko haram is concerned, they tell nigerians you have to live with it, where destroying a report is concerned, they pull out the video pens

Dude your Employers have been caught pants down, but I do agree with the above.

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]Nice work!

edoyad:

Dude your Employers have been caught pants down, but I do agree with the above.

small thinker, my employers are not barely educated thugs like otedola who can only subsist on govt patronage to survive.

let me give the man credit sha - he destroyed the report and got himself out of the indictees

next thing we will hear he was exonerated for cooperating with the authorities

one of the biggest fuel subsidy scammers destroys the report and gets off the hook to boot

oyb:

small thinker, my employers are not barely educated thugs like otedola who can only subsist on govt patronage to survive.

let me give the man credit sha - he destroyed the report and got himself out of the indictees

next thing we will hear he was exonerated for cooperating with the authoritiesu

one of the biggest fuel subsidy scammers destroys the report and gets off the hook to boot

Big talker, at the end of the day they're all part of the same scheme. One stealing money from the Government and the other using their powers to extort the thief. Just like all those dirty Cops in Hollywood flicks. Who is dirtier, the thief or the Crooked Cop?

edoyad:

Big talker, at the end of the day they're all part of the same scheme. One stealing money from the Government and the other using their powers to extort the thief. Just like all those dirty Cops in Hollywood flicks. Who is dirtier, the thief or the Crooked Cop?

i do not work for otedola.

otedola is almost as much a cowboy as jimoh ibrahim

his success has everything to do with govt patronage and nothing to do with business acumen

the yardua years were a dry season for him - why do you think he is attached to gej like a superfluous appendage ?

the fg is simply protecting its own, those who bankrolled gej's elections

end of story

Could it be Gej and his army of blackmailers that are at work here? Whoever paid that bribe must have felt threatened by the Lawan commitee resolve to expose them.

Can u imagbine Farouk Lawan of all people? & ¶ use τ̅o HªvΣ high regard for dis Arrow! Who can we trust now?

sheyguy: Could it be Gej and his army of blackmailers that are at work here? Whoever paid that bribe must have felt threatened by the Lawan commitee resolve to expose them.

na we do am episode 2

you know how the gej administration rolls

set up oct 1 bomb blast to instill fear of abokis


setup SSS sting operation phantom bribery to discredit report that indicts otedola and our minister of aviation, among others

but this farouk lawan guy fall hand big time - these greedy senators - on top of all their allawi it is still not enough

in more civilized climes police used marked notes to catch bank robber, kidnappers etal

in nigeria they are used by national security to destroy reports

perhaps this is why several other reports have never seen the light of day, our SSS must have plenty of video archives

where is the nigerian wikileaks when you need em?

sheyguy: Could it be Gej and his army of blackmailers that are at work here? Whoever paid that bribe must have felt threatened by the Lawan commitee resolve to expose them.

What resolve are you talking about? A resolve to expose those who gave them bribe which they collected?

You must be a "genuis" to have "figured" out that Mr. Presudent is blackmailing Lawan. The only thing I will like to know is; this blackmail, is it against a Lawan who took bribe or the who did not?
If the man took bribe, he should be jailed and his report be trashed, but if he is being blackmailed for standing for truth, the blackmailers should be exposed and punished while his report should stand.

I am not suprised though, corruption in Nigeria has nothing to do with political party, religion or etnicity. It is a pity that some of us believe that Mr. President must be guilt at all cost and every other person in the so called opposition is a saint.

While I am not holding brief for the present adminitration, I will advise that we all understand that Nigeria's problems cannot be solved over night by one man, just because he happens to be President.

only in naija will we find state security used in entrapment ops in which the goal is using a bigger thief to catch a smaller thief

can we even be sure this whole 'sting' was not driven by obj's manic need for revenge over the man who presided over his girlfiend madam patricia 'i can romance anybody' etteh's ouster?

since obj is the one blathering about criminals - why is the SSS even involving a civilian?

then again i forget that the gej administration, for all the noise to the contrary, is still remote controlled from ota farms

did he take it or not?

You people do not understand that the oil subsidy criminals are not ready to spend a single day in prison. They will use any means necessary, including blackmail, downing aircrafts carrying witnesses who can provide damaging information, and yes murder, to ensure that they remain out of jail.

This is just the beginning, they will start ordering killing of key witnesses soon. If they do not, many of them will go to jail and lose their fortunes - they will kill to prevent these eventualities.

Its too late to sweep the oil subsidy scandal under the carpet. May God save my dear country.

oyb:

you are the dunce who sees nothing wrong with parties tasked with national security engaging in sting operations

small wonder the SSS cannot break boko haram - rather than the gej administraion focus on keeping nigerian safe, they are busy playing nursemaid to the likes of otedola

where boko haram is concerned, they tell nigerians you have to live with it, where destroying a report is concerned, they pull out the video pens

goodluck johnathan abacha - al mustapha's trainees must be running things in the SSS now.

gej has confirmed that his administartion is of the moguls, by the moguls and for the moguls

Why don't you weep buckets because Farouk Lawan was caught pants down on video?
You sound really sad about it.

What is the worth of a report written to rope in political opponents of the "Norths" 2015 project and those who wouldn't play ball?
Or was Farouk Lawan going to share the $10milla to you and your fellow winshes in your village?

oyb: http://allafrica.com/stories/201204170251.html

the report was out since april

why did the SSS wait all this time since they had hard evidence?

or perhaps in addition to being enforcers for crooked businessmen, thy are now in the business of govt blackmail?

Stop repeating questions with dead simple answers like an impaired imp. Your lover Farouk Lawan was caught and no amount of tears will save him.
Like I told you earlier:

Beaf:

This is stup!d.

Anyway, the simple answer to the bolded lies in the fact that they gave the criminal, Farouk Lawan marked notes. The reason security agencies carry out sting operations with marked notes it to be able to trace those notes wherever they go, whatever account(s) they go into, whatever they buy, whoever they are given to etc.

oyb: only in naija will we find state security used in entrapment ops in which the goal is using a bigger thief to catch a smaller thief

can we even be sure this whole 'sting' was not driven by obj's manic need for revenge over the man who presided over his girlfiend madam patricia 'i can romance anybody' etteh's ouster?

since obj is the one blathering about criminals - why is the SSS even involving a civilian?

then again i forget that the gej administration, for all the noise to the contrary, is still remote controlled from ota farms

Lol! The Farouk Lawan, the thief has been caught smiling at the camera!
Live with it. Or if you wanna hang, we'll buy you a rope.

Please, lets pause for a moment while I cry for you, I really wanna weep bitterly:

B*R*E*A*K*I*N*G News!
SUBSIDY Probe: Bribe Caught on Camera.
**Farouk Confirms Receiving Bribe.
**We are disappointed that he collected the whole alone - committee member.
**I want to use the Bribe as evidence against Oil Cabal.

Farouk Lawan, the man at the center of the 'caught on camera bribe' now claims that he only collected the bribe to use as evidence against the oil cabal but his colleagues are not buying his story because he waited until he was exposed to make the claim and did not inform any member if the house until the security services blew the lid of the deal.

Also, more details are emerging as to what transpired. The whole saga began after the SSS got a tip that the House Adhoc Committee probing the Fuel Subsidy regime had been receiving bribes from different quarters to influence their report and sex it up to embarrass the government.

Investigations then commenced which established the truth of the matter. At this point a plot was hatched to entrap the chief bribe taker, which was the head if the commitee, Farouk Lawan.

A camera concealed in a pen was handed over to Femi Otedola, CEO of Zenon Oil, who had a meeting with Farouk Lawan whbe negotiated a $3 Million dollar bribe with Otedola and collected a down payment of $600K.

Lawan then kept quiet and concealed receipt of the money from all and sundry and after the report was released he approached Otedola to collect the balance of his money. It is known that Lawan plans tocontest for Kano State governor in 2015 and needs a financial war chest for the contest.

However, when the scandal broke, Lawan in an attempt to turn the case against him approached a member of the House's Committee on Narcotics and Financial Crimes to appeal to them to tender the money he collected on-camera as evidence of an attempt to bribe him, but the committee members refused to be used claiming that they could only have agreed had Lawan come to them before the scandal blew open.

Meanwhile, Lawan's commitee members have expressed disappointment in the fact that Lawan could collect such a huge sum without putting them in the picture.

In related news, the House Spokesman, Hon. Zakari Muhammad, has issued a statement washing the hands of the House of the Farouk Lawan bribery and stating that the House will not cover up anybody's alleged crime and would allow the rule of law to run its course.

The allegation of the bribery blew open after former President Olusegun Obasanjo alleged that there were thieves and armed robbers in the National Assembly and state legislative houses, and the Speaker of the House Hon. Aminu Tambuwal travelled to the former president’s Ota residence to seek audience with him over the statement.

It was gathered that Obasanjo showed Tambuwal a certain video recording which showed the committee member collecting a huge amount of foreign currency ( said to be $600,000) from some oil company officials.

Tambuwal was said to have been rudely shocked by the video Obasanjo showed him to justify why he made his controversial allegation against the lawmakers.

It was gathered that the Speaker confronted the committee member over the issue in a meeting of principal officers of the House where he had been summoned to defend himself.

There were speculations, at the weekend, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had invited the House adhoc committee member for interrogation but this could not be confirmed.

Reacting to the scandal, yesterday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mohammed, in a statement, said “The attention of the House of Representatives has been drawn to reports alleging that one of its members, has, in the course of his committee work as a member of the ad hoc committee which investigated the subsidy regime, allegedly received a gratification from an oil baron to exonerate his companies from complicity in the oil subsidy scam.

“While we await investigation into these weighty accusations, we wish to state without equivocation that this Honourable House will never take side 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.

“However, these accusations, what ever their merits, do not detract from the quality of the work done by the committee. The report of that committee was adopted by the whole House and we stand by the resolutions of the House.

“The present House of Representatives will not relent in it’s efforts to render quality legislation and oversight functions to Nigerians. Today, we are gradually beginning to see the end of this monstrosity that has bedeviled our progress as a nation for so long.

“We hope that the Executive will not, because of this allegation, abandon it’s commitment towards bringing to justice, the culprits already identified in the committee’s report.”

It would be recalled that the Speaker had heaped praises on the Committee when it submitted its report which was subsequently adopted by the entire House”.

It is a Big Shame, for a Youth we so much admired, will soil himself to this level.

This bribery saga should not exonerate Femi Otedola and Zenon Oil from any crime they may have committed. Simple as ABC.

When Farouk Lawan, produces his own evidence (manufactured or otherwise) that the EFCC was aware of the money and he gave EFCC the money, as soon as Odetola gave it to him, then una go know say Kaki no be leather

The whole system is corrupt.

ndu_chucks: This bribery saga should not exonerate Femi Otedola and Zenon Oil from any crime they may have committed. Simple as ABC.

When Farouk Lawan, produces his own evidence (manufactured or otherwise) that the EFCC was aware of the money and he gave EFCC the money, as soon as Odetola gave it to him, then una go know say Kaki no be leather

The whole system is corrupt.

Otedola commited no crime. The SSS got wind of the tactics of Farouk Lawans political, '2015 "North"' probe and the sting operation was set up using Otedola.
It was the SSS that provided the marked money. Now all thats left to do is trace whoever it has been shared to (if what Farouk brought back isn't complete, then some has been spent ).

Na so dem de take catch monkey.

Simples.

all hail the administration of the aso rock dunce

and the SSS first victory in a string of embarrassing failures - entraping corrupt politicians while boko haram is bombing civilians

or is this the latest attempt to divert attention from the already expired boko haram will be done by june vow?

no skin off me or my employers teeth either way


is it not otedola we are talking about - gej and the SSS will soon be thoroughly embarrassed by their brazen connivance with a crooked businessman


beaf can try to spin this any way he wants, but it is nothing more than the dirty bizarre politics gej is known for

btw, how did this turn from exposing a corrupt politician to 2015 noisemaking

team gej indeed belong in the loony ward or at least in mfm - their imaginary enemies are legion