Chairman of the House of Representatives
Committee on Drugs/Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Mr. Adams Jagaba,
said on Monday that he was prepared to tell the police all he knew about
the $620,000 bribery allegation involving
Mr. Farouk Lawan and businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola.
Mr. Farouk Lawan and businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola.
“I see myself and the police as co-partners in the fight against corruption,” the lawmaker told The PUNCH in Abuja.
According to Jagaba, as the chairman of
the committee, which oversees the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, he will not be doing the nation any good if he withholds
information from an investigation agency.
Jagaba confirmed that he was aware of a
letter sent to the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, requesting him to assist
the police with information.
He, however, deplored the “weeks of
unfounded speculations” over a purported ultimatum given to him by the
police to appear before them or he would be arrested.
Jagaba said, “First, they said that I had been invited and given an ultimatum. That is not true.
“Again, they claimed that I was in the country on Friday; that is not true.
“I just returned to the country this morning (yesterday) from South Africa.
“I arrived about 9.30am and I went home to shower.
“What I can say is that I will go to see
the police as soon as possible and I will cooperate with them to avail
the police of information that will assist in fighting corruption.
“There is no definite date on when I will go to the police.
“What happened was that they (police)
followed the procedure to serve the speaker (invitation letter) and
since the speaker has seen it, it means that I have seen it.”
It will be recalled that Lawan had
claimed that he handed over the bribe money to Jagaba to forward to the
leadership of the House.
He also claimed to have reported the bribery to Jagaba through a letter he wrote to him in April.
But Jagaba vehemently denied ever
receiving any letter or the bribe exhibit from Lawan. It is still
unclear where the $620,000 is.
Meanwhile, the House has said the report
of its Committee on Ethics and Privileges on the bribery allegation
would not be released in “piecemeal.”
A member of the committee, Mr. Ibrahim
Bello, was quoted as saying on Sunday that Otedola disowned the video of
the bribery transaction in circulation.
He claimed that Otedola told the committee when he appeared before it last week that the video did not originate from him.
However, counsel for Otedola on Monday, debunked claims that their client disowned the video.
In a statement, Babajide Koku, SAN,
said, “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state categorically that
the statement credited to Ibrahim Bello is entirely false and calculated
to misrepresent and misinform the public as to what transpired during
the closed door hearing held by the House Committee on the 3rd of July,
2012.
“We wish to state further that there are
video and audio recordings corroborating our client’s account of what
transpired between him and Farouk Lawan.”
