What is your take on the subsidy probe scandal involving Hon. Farouk Lawan and the perceived role of the Presidency in the saga?
You cannot isolate the Presidency from
the saga, because it is impossible for the security agencies to embark
on such operation involving a member of the National Assembly without
some approval from the Presidency or rather it’s even possible that it’s
initiated from that end. For some of us who have related with Farouk
Lawan, it didn’t come to us as a surprise that he is involved in this
scandal. When I was fighting corruption in the National Assembly, Farouk
Lawan addressed a press conference and said so many things against me
and attacked my opinion at that time, but today I will say I am
vindicated and we have seen the light. Despite the fact that Farouk
Lawan has soiled his hands with this scandal, I am of the opinion that
the report of the committee must not be jettisoned because Farouk Lawan
is not the Federal Republic of Nigeria neither is he the resolution of
the House of Representatives. Farouk Lawan is only an individual, so we
want the Presidency and the Federal Government and, indeed, the
anti-graft agencies to isolate Farouk Lawan from the issue of the oil
subsidy. They are two different issues, if his offence is criminal, he
should be criminally prosecuted in accordance with Nigeria laws. The
resolution of the House of Representatives is not a child’s play. There
is a resolution and a report which has been forwarded to the anti-graft
agencies. The report must see the light of the day.
The House of Representatives is now well known for bribery scandals. Why is this so?
If both Senate and the House of
Representatives are carrying out their legislative responsibilities as
they are suppose to, there will be no probe. Most members of the
National Assembly have commercialised their conscience and don’t
exercise their oversight functions with sincerity of purpose and
commitment, and because there’s what I call ‘a corruption collaboration’
between the executive arm of government and the National Assembly, so
it will be difficult for members to carry out effective policing of the
MDAs because of these shortcomings, that is why you have probes in the
first instance.
What mistakes did Farouk Lawan make and where do you think he veered off the line?
The moment Farouk Lawan visited the
personal residence of Femi Otedola, he veered off the line of principle
and ethic. Otedola’s house is not an extension of the National Assembly.
And as at April, the committee was still sitting, so if you are
investigating somebody, what takes you to his house? And I will also
recall that on the day the report was tendered, Farouk Lawan stood up
and said further investigation and information had revealed that
Otedola’s Zenon is not suppose to be on the indicted list and by so
doing, he moved a motion for the removal of its name from the list.
Zenon’s name was removed from the list as an outcome of resolution of
the House. If Farouk Lawan collected the money with the intention of
setting Otedola up, why is it that Zenon Oil is not in the list? He
removed Zenon from the list and yet said he collected the money as an
exhibit. He collected the money in April, why didn’t he submit it to the
Inspector General of Police. The SSS came out to say that Otedola
reported to them and they provided him the money. But in the case of the
police they are yet to admit that Farouk Lawan reported the matter to
them. If he had reported to them, they will not be looking for him. And
the money would be in police custody, because Farouk Lawan is not a
security agent or a law enforcement agent. He cannot keep exhibit in his
house.
Do you think the oil magnates are fighting back?
The PDP is manifesting itself. Otedola
is one of the major financiers of the party. Farouk Lawan is a member of
the PDP. Both Otedola and Farouk are all guilty of corruption.
Otedola, with the picture they are trying to paint is a mole, and he was
pulling the string is not true. The whole thing is a macabre dance, a
drama orchestrated by the PDP, targeting at weakening the leadership of
the House of Representatives. And we are waiting to see where their
dance will end. We can tell the end of the dance from the beginning. I
can tell you that Nigerians are no fools. The PDP wants to sweep that
report under the carpet but we want to say we will make this country
ungovernable within the confines of the law if they so attempt to mess
with the report. The report must be implemented. We also understand that
it’s an incomplete report, because many of the major oil companies were
exempted from the list. We are now saying that the House of
Representatives should take the bull by the horn by constituting another
committee to look into the names of companies that were removed from
the indicted list.
Why do you think the executive arm of government will be interested in scuttling the report?
The Presidency will be interested in
scuttling the report because they have a stake. They are trying to
protect the Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke and the likes of
Otedola because most of the people indicted were the financiers of PDP.
They were the ones donating billions to the PDP fund raising dinner to
support the party. This is where they make their money back. So the
Federal Government will not like to expose those characters and will do
everything possible to kill this report. But the report is not
extinguishable, Farouk Lawan only played into their hands. The Federal
Government is not fighting corruption, it is fertilising corruption.
When President Goodluck Jonathan was Vice President, then late Umaru
Yar’adua of blessed memory was the president. The Minister of Health and
the Minister of State for Health were indicted of corruption. Despite
the fact that they were still undergoing investigation, they were
suspended by President Yar’adua. Today, Diezani Allison-Madueke is the
chairman of the NNPC Board, she has oversight responsibility over the
PPPRA and she is the Petroleum Minister. Today, the NNPC and PPPRA had
been indicted and yet she is still sitting as the Petroleum Minister. We
expected by now President Jonathan, if he’s really fighting
corruption, to suspended Diezani. because she is going to impede on the
investigation and become an obstacle to investigation. This government
is yet to probe those who stole N13.2 billion in the power sector. Some
of them today are governors while some are moving around in luxury. This
government is yet to prosecute them and recover the money and yet they
are inflicting pain on the masses of this country. Now they are asking
the masses of this country to subsidise the lifestyle of the elite. The
president told Nigerians that he is reducing the overhead cost in the
Ain overhead, what’s the Niger Delta amnesty programme doing with over
N100 billion. An allocation that is richer than that of health and
power, two critical sectors in the country. Basically, they are not only
asking Nigerians to subsidise the international jet-setting lifestyle
of the elite but to service the profligacy of the ruling class. The
government said it is increasing tariff to woo investors, but the
institutional and infrastructural impediments are more of a constraint
to an investor than the issue of tariff. Today, you don’t have gas to
power the plants, 48 licences have been issued to private companies to
build plants, up till now we have not commissioned one power plant and
yet there’s no gas to service them. This government has lied, lied and
lied to Nigerians. It’s a deceptive, satanic government, and we have
never had it so bad, even the Abacha government is far better than what
we are experiencing. And more importantly the president on May 29, 2011
swore to an oath to defend the constitution of this country. It’s his
basic responsibility to provide food and security to Nigerians, but
today there is no food and there is no security. The security of this
country is in the hands of Boko Haram. Over N1 trillion was budgeted for
security and it has not ended the Boko Haram crisis; JTF has not ended
the Boko Haram crisis. Today, insecurity is on the increase, N1 trillion
wasted. We can’t continue like this because in an unjust society
silence is a crime.
What is your anti-corruption group going to do now?
We are waiting to see what the
government will do, specifically the subsidy report. We want to see what
they will do with the pension scandal. We want to see what the
president will do on this scandal in the House of Representatives. We
want to see what the PDP will do. However, I want to assure you that we
are going to lead Nigerians especially the youth to vehemently resist
the negativities of this government. Enough is enough. If this
government by any means tries to mess up with the people we are going to
prove to them that truly power belongs to the people, we are going to
give this government the Egyptian treatment. The Occupy Nigeria protest
in January forced the president to reduce the pump price from N140 to
N97 before the Labour compromised and caved in. But this time around,
there will be no NLC to lead and that’s the worst of it all when there’s
no leader and everybody is a follower, then, that’s when the government
will know that what happened in Egypt and Tunisia can also happen in
Nigeria.
WeeklyTrust
No comments:
Post a Comment