by AKINJIDE AKINTOLA & DAN AJANAKU
• AgbajeAs a Constitutional Lawyer, Human Rights Activist and a Social crusader, How do you see the ongoing Bribery scandal leveled against the chairman of Ad-hoc committee, Oil subsidy regime, Hon. Farouk Lawan by Femi Otedola?
Let us give both parties the benefits of doubt; I won't say yes, somebody took bribe as alleged. I will frame it this way: How did I see the allegation of bribe-taking that is currently ravaging the entire NASS particularly the House of Representatives. Constitutionally speaking, the constitution says especially, section 36, that every accused person is presumed to be innocent of whatever allegation that is leveled against him until the contrary is proved before a competent Law court. For now, it is a mere allegation but if it turns out that the contrary is proved to be true, all theses allegations flying about on the front pages of the newspapers.
I know in this country, as a constitutional Lawyer, both the giver and taker of bribe are punishable under the relevant penal laws of Nigeria; Particularly under the Anti-corrupt Act and the criminal code because it is an offence for somebody to give and it is equally an offence for somebody to take bribe. To worsen the matter, it is even against the official code of conduct because one is not allowed to accept any form of gratifications in the performance of his/her lawful duty. But any form of gratifications that come from the state, somebody is permitted to accept.
The position of Femi Otedola from what I have read so far in the various newspapers is that, we were being inundated with the demand of bribe by the members of the probe panel and Farouk Lawan. It was deduced that and his team demanded for bribe ($620,000) cash- for-clearance to enable them delist the name of Zenon petroleum & Gas from the list of indicted Oil marketers in the report of the committee on the day it was adopted by the House.
If Femi Otedola has no skeleton in his cupboard, why must he offer a dime for those who claim are constantly demanding? Why must he be Otedola alone that was asked to come forward to bribe them? Is it because the amount of the shared amount involving Zenon Oil is the highest or one of the highest that was why they asked for such a fantastic amount of the shared money? These are questions that Femi Otedola must provide the answers to the security agents particularly the EFCC, we should get to the root of the matter immediately.
On the side of Farouk Lawan, he did say yes, initially he said that there was nothing like that. "We should not believe, Nigerians are used to the era of fake video being paraded all over the place; since the era of Diya/Abacha saga, all sorts of video are being paraded.
I must confess, I was one of those people who believed that statement issued by Farouk Lawan. I also joined some Nigerians that the insinuations being made could juxtapose two individuals together in these days of high-wired technology anything can happy. I was tempted to believe Farouk Lawan. But when the presidency mounted much pressure, he said yes, I took the money, he has now shifted grounds, as a result of the two mere inconsistent statements made by him. He has all of a sudden made a 360 degree u- turn the second day; what a twist of irony? He said yes, when he was confronted with the reality of the video recorded clips that exposed him.
Meanwhile, Femi Otedola consistently told the whole world that 'I gave Lawan the sum of $620,000 (marked money) as bribe in a sting operation with the knowledge of the security agencies, and with the hope of protecting him when the final balance is paid later, so he can walk a free man on the street and the public will have been short- changed of their hard tax-payers' money.
On the side of Farouk Lawan, what I still found distasteful in the whole alibi, he said the police authority was informed as far back as April 24, 2012. If he had informed the police authority, where was the money taken to since then? When did bribe-taking /giving become what one can quickly publish in the newspaper and why did he not tell the police authority and the general public? According to a local adage in where I come from in "Akoko -Edo LGA in Edo State which says when a dog eats shit (faeces) and one does not chase the dog, if the dog is allowed to enter the house, it will rub everybody with the shit (faeces). Farouk Lawan said, he chose to tell the police authority, but Otedola said, he chose to tell the security agents. It was a coup and a counter coup displayed by the two personalities. If it is true that Farouk Lawan had told the police authority as far back as April 24, 2012, why has the police authority not stepped into action?
Which means the police authority acted as an accomplice in all these inordinate shenanigans of taking the entire Nigerians for a ride.
The hierarchy of police that have been mentioned should be aware that they must be named; when did the police hierarchy became aware of this scenario? When did EFCC became aware of this ugly scenario? When did the SSS which Otedola mentioned became aware of this scenario? When did Aso rock that were also mentioned became aware of this scenario? In other words, there's a high-level of conspiracy in this corruption saga. Even if it is a set-up, I want to ask: why will the government agent set-up a legislator/lawmaker in the 1st place? Is the government afraid of the law-maker that he will not come to tell truth or he will be at the side of the public interest or the larger Nigerians interest that the microscopic interest of the ruling oligarchy and there are more stories behind this ugly scenario. How can a government that claims to fight corruption be the one encouraging, aiding and abetting the giving /taking of bribe?
There are insinuations that the government wants to use this as an opportunity to rubbish the report of the subsidy probe panel. What is your take on this allegation?
The government wants to punctuate the report of the panel, but Nigerians are not fools. I, for one, no body can fool me; the authenticity of the report is never in doubt, you can query the messenger, the message of that report is very clear not only for Nigeria as a whole but for the International community that are ready to assist the government to fight corruption.
The question is this, if the Federal Government of Nigeria wants the Oil subsidy probe panel report to be thrown out as being alleged because the members were alleged to have taken bribe; and therefore, the authenticity of that report has become questionable; it is not true. In the first instant, if the hand of the cleaner is clean, why will he surrender to any intimidation for the demand of bribe? Is it not because the hands of the giver are not clean, he is the one of the cabals that sponsored the election of the present occupant of Aso Rock. They claim somebody has been set-up, but others were also indicted. No amount of dilly-dallying game can take away the veracity and authenticity of the reports. If you deal with the messenger, especially the messenger which has a case to answer; so many of them were indicted. Why did they submit to the giving of bribe? Why did he submit to the giving of bribe? Why can't he say, I can't give bribe by saying l'm a Deacon in my church, or an Alfa in my mosque, I can't do it because I can't be a party to this shady and fraudulent practices. I have no money to give anybody, if you are not satisfied, go ahead and I will go to court to challenge the verdict. He has something to hide, the report is there, then he compromised and the country is greater than any individual, whether Otedola or Lawan.
The House of Representative is meeting tomorrow to deliberate on the next line of action against the leadership. Is it the right step to take?
The integrity of the House is already in doubt; can you be a judge/lawyer in your own case. Who appointed the members of the Oil subsidy probe panel? Is it not the leadership of the House? The same leadership that the report will be submitted to because they want to douse the embarrassing tension caused by the bribe-taking allegation. The house should stop further deliberation in this ugly scenario, I will advise the law enforcement agents to take its full course in accordance. The two personalities should summit themselves to the law enforcement agents for proper interrogation and investigation.
But if the credibility of the investigative panel is questioned, will it not affect the outcome of such committee?
It was true that Lawan had contacts with Otedola along the line, but the case and report should not be compromised because there is a clear evidence adduced at the enquiry which was very revealing and should not be swept under the carpet.
Hope this is not a conspiracy to destroy that panel report because at the moment, the evidence appears scanty?
What the law look at is whether you secure a favour to exonerate yourself. There is an element of conspiracy; ingredients of corruption; bribery is complete because of the giving and taking of bribe has been established. The argument that marked money was offered does not arise. Did the company not enjoy the favour. Throw that argument to the Marines for God's sake.
Can you expatiate more on this?
There is an example of a rich man versus an harlot. The rich man approached a harlot for sex, she agreed and the rich man gave the harlot fake money. Some days later, the rich man contracted gonorrhea and came back to the harlot: 'you gave me gonorrhea', the Harlot exclaimed: 'did you know that you gave me fake money on that day'?
A crime has been committed, both of them enjoyed the relationship, at the end of the day, both of them were worst off, both the prostitute and the rich man are guilty of the offence. It is a wise joke.
In law, the level of criminality depends on jurisprudence and what determines your culpability are inter-twine around two factors; the act itself that you did it and the state of your mind as at that time. The two must work together, the act itself and state of your mind as that constitutes the realm of criminal jurisprudence. It could not be an act, if you don't know what you are doing; but if you have the intention and carry out that intention, the law can't get you free. He claimed, he gave him marked money, is he not enjoying the benefit of illegal and conjugal relationship with Lawan. The Principle in criminal law is this, active non-ta legal forms. In other words, there can't be a guilty act unless there's a guilty mind. Conversely, there can't be a guilty mind unless there is a guilty act. Both cannot get out of it.
What is your view on NASS as a whole on this over -sight function in view of recent developments as regards probe of SEC, Pension Fund scam and the power probe some years back?
Let me state that by the over-sight function, the NASS lately had become too much saturated about their over-sight functions. The truth of the matter is that, it is because of the direct and indirect benefit that come with such over-sight functions and that is why the jostle for chairmanship of committees amongst members is always a do-or-die affair. It has become a do-or-die for its inherent pecuniary advantages that go with such offices. For instance, Iyabo Obasanjo's committee fought over education/health palaver and eventually got out of it. A former Minister was asked to bring N50m to be cleared, these are part of the fallout from over-sight functions.
Over-sight function constitutionally, is supposed to be used in furtherance of the investigative power of the law-maker in the course of their legislation; they can indict anybody when they are legislating. The second ground when they can get themselves involved in this over-sight function is when they want to fight corruption, but invariably instead, they now use over-sight function to amass wealth.
All over the world, the over-sight function is the last weapon used against the recalcitrant governmental and private organizations. They used it to streamline the lawlessness that pervades the executive, government department, private sector but unfortunately that instrument of over-sight function is a ready-made expense of their constitutional responsibility of the legislative for the good governance of the country.
While the Supreme Court allowed the EFCC/ICPC Act is that their was a period challenge for the NASS and government of OBJ to pass the EFCC/ICPC act to the principle of federalism because it intended the power of the state to deal with criminals but now shifted to the Federal Government of Nigeria, but the supreme court largely rejected the argument saying: both the state and federal governments have that responsibility.
In other words, the law-makers are not using the over-sight function to better the lots of Nigerians, but as an instrument for personal aggrandizement. Like the missing NEPA N600 Billion was mismanaged in the power sector probe scam. On the local scene, Pedro Road here in Shomolu is the worst road in Lagos State and the local government is not doing anything about it. It is a government of personal aggrandizement. They weren't voted for, they came through questionable electoral process; Armed robbers, thief's to quote what OBJ said. The questionable electoral process can only be addressed in Nigeria unless we ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) boss is appointed from outside Aso Rock. If the President continues to appoint the umpire for the electoral process, then the problem will just continue.
