The embattled Chairman of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on the management of fuel subsidy regime, Hon. Farouk Lawan Controversy is contesting the authenticity of an 81 secs audio tape of a purported conversation between him and Femi Otedola, MD/CEO Zenon Oil.
Popular Lagos-based television station,Channels, yesterday aired the controversial tape during its early morning programme, Sunrise, allegedly reflecting parts of the discussions between Otedola and Lawan that precipitated the ongoing $620,000 bribery allegation scandal.
However, Hon. Lawan through one of his lead lawyers, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, is faulting the genuineness of the tape, saying that the tape was doctored.
In a statement last night Ozekhome said that the audio is infertile, vague, puerile and inadmissible in evidence by any court of law or tribunal.
According to Ozekhome, he (Otedola) will certainly require forensic evidence to prove this to be true in this highly technologised world of manipulative evidence that can easily turn a man into a woman.
In the statement entitled, “That funny, phoney, satanic and manipulated audio aired on Channels Television concerning Mr. Farouk Lawan,” Ozekhome said: “Professionally, Channels did make the vital point that the audio was ‘purported to be their voices’. One simple question here: where is the visual of the audio? Recall that Mr. Otedola had told the whole world that he used the SSS to carry out a so-called “sting operation”, which showed Farouk Lawan not only pocketing $500,000, but also putting some under his cap, in Mr Otedola’s Lagos home. On Farouk’s instructions, we had debunked this allegation and challenged Mr Otedola, or the police and SSS to produce this complete audio-video, unedited and undoctored.
“Mr Otedola had the opportunity of doing this through Channels TV. But he did not. Rather, he brought highly doctored, manipulated and incomprehensible voices purported to be his and Lawan’s. He will certainly require forensic evidence to prove this to be true in this highly technologised world of manipulative evidence that can easily turn a man into a woman. Certainly, the audio was a sorry anti-climax to what Nigerians had been expecting.
“Even at that, let us take the audio ‘evidence’ itself for whatever it is worth. The conversation started somewhere in the middle, not from the beginning and ended abruptly. Our client hereby still challenges Mr Otedola to air the entire audio visual and also the complete video for Nigerians to see the setting and environment in which the alleged bribe took place, who said what, to whom and for what.
“Secondly, our client believes that the entire footage is devilish, satanic, luciferous, mischievous and completely taken out of context. Even then the audio shows that it is Mr Otedola offering to pay the balance of the alleged bribe of $2.5 million, not Mr Farouk Lawan.
Even from what was said, there was no mention of the purpose of the alleged balance of $2.5 million, or any mention of Mr Otedola’s indicted companies, Zenon Oil and AP Petroleum, whose desired removal from the committee’s indicted companies’ list allegedly formed the fulcrum of the bribe itself. If it was actually a “sting operation”, why is it Mr Otedola and not the SSS officially releasing it on Channels TV? The audio has raised more questions and doubts than answers. Mr Farouk Lawan says it is a doctored anti-climax.”