FAROUK Lawan, Chairman of the House Representative Ad Hoc Committee on fuel subsidy probe and his alleged accomplice in a $3,000,000 bribery scandal which is casting serious doubts on the integrity of members of the House of Representatives, Boniface Emenalo, Clerk of the Ad Hoc Committee, were both detained by the police last night.
Businessman Femi Otedola had earlier in the week revealed that Lawan a member of the House of Represntative since the inception of the fourth republic in 1999 collected a total amount of $620,000 from him as an installment of a $3,000,000 bribe he requested for.
Lawan arrived at the police headquarters at about 4pm in the company of five lawyers, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He was said to have been later joined by the clerk of the ad-hoc committee, Mr Boniface Emenalo, who was accused of receiving about $120, 000 on behalf of his principal.
After a five-hour grilling, at about 9:15pm members of the Police Special Task Force looking into his culpability told his counsel, Mr. Israel Olorundare(SAN) and Mr. Sam Ologunorisa(SAN), that he could not be granted bail.
The lead counsel, Olorundare (SAN) said: “We have just been told that he will not be granted bail tonight. We are suspecting a premeditated plan to detain Lawan so that he won’t be part of the emergency session of the House of Representatives on Friday (today).
“Ordinarily, the offence is bailable. Why did they allow Otedola to go home after barely spending an hour and kept this lawmaker waiting for five hours?We got here with our client at 4pm but they did not tell us that Lawan will not get bail till 9pm.
“I asked CP Ali Amodu why the police were detaining Lawan, he said ‘based on orders from above’ but he did not specify whose orders. The OC Legal interjected by saying we will meet in court.
“It is frustrating and a slight to isolate Lawan from his lawyers. They just kept us in a room without access to the lawmaker.
“Yet, each time we asked about Lawan’s whereabouts, the police could say “he will soon be with you in a minute.” Now, it is over five hours of waiting.”
The lawmaker might be charged to court as early as Monday or Tuesday next week.
A Police source said: “Yes, we are detaining him, pending the conclusion of investigation. We may not release him till next week.
“We may have to meet in court for bail application.”
“The police were unhappy that they could not retrieve the bribe money from Lawan, who insisted that he will make the sum available only to the court.
“He said he could not lay himself bare without any shred of evidence.”
“We also picked Lawan up on his reaction to allegations from Otedola, who had earlier voluntarily come to the Police”
“We also picked him up on the alarm he raised in the Leadership over a plot to bribe the Ad Hoc Committee. In the last two hours, Lawan has been writing his statement, a source said.”
Asked why Lawan’s counsel were not allowed to be part of the questioning, the source added: “We have not reached the stage where the lawyers will be part of the interrogation. What we have done so far is to isolate issues for the lawmaker to respond to.”
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will hold an emergency session today following a conclave high ranking officers of the house had at Halims Agoda’s residence in Abuja yesterday.
At the meeting were former principal officers of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2007, Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal and own principal officers.
A source in the House said: “We met on how to manage the session and reduce tension.
“We have agreed on a few matters which we might discuss at an executive session which may precede the plenary.”
A former principal 0fficer of the House added: “We had a session with the Speaker to avail him of our experience in a crisis situation like this. We are interested in preserving the sanctity of the Legislature.”
There were indications from the meeting that the House may suspend Lawan pending the conclusion of police investigation.