How
will this drama end? That is the question playing on my mind as I
continue to watch the different episodes of the $620,000 (or is it $3
million) bribe row in the House of Representatives. Zenon boss, Femi
Otedola, said the chairman of the fuel subsidy probe committee, Lawan
Farouk, collected bribes worth $620,000 in steaming cash from him to
delete Zenon from the list of marketers indicted over the subsidy
affair. Otedola said he informed the security agencies, played along and
had everything captured on audio and video. The audios are being
released in batches. We await the video that will give it the proper
outlook of a soap opera, tagged “Chop My Money” by some ever-creative
Nigerians. That is one side of the story.
Wait a minute. There is a
third side. There is this suspicion that Otedola did not act alone,
that he was fronting the interest of those who wanted to rubbish the
probe. According to this thinking, the plan, ab initio, was to discredit
the report of the committee. So the plan was carefully hatched so that
after the whole show, the report would come to nought. Lawan only fell
into a trap that would end up tarnishing the probe report, according to
this line of reasoning. Already, one of the indicted marketers has
headed to the court asking that the report be nullified “in the light”
of the on-going revelations questioning “the credibility of the report”.
What do I believe? Well,
I believe Lawan collected the money. But that’s not even in question.
Although he initially denied collecting the bribe and described the
video as a “caricature”, he finally admitted receiving it as “exhibit”.
So that is settled. I believe the “bribe” paved the way for the swift
“vindication” of Zenon championed by Lawan on the floor of the House. As
a layman, I would argue that if I gave you $620,000 to delete my
company’s name from the list and you promptly did so, you have fulfilled
your obligation. I therefore declare that I believe Lawan vigorously
saw to the removal of Zenon’s name because of the $620,000 bonanza.
However, Lawan, through
his lawyers, is arguing that Zenon’s name was removed because it was
proved beyond doubt by Otedola that the company had nothing to do with
the petrol subsidy. Zenon, after all, deals only in diesel and that is
one product that had been freed from control pricing many years ago. So
Zenon could not have participated in petrol issues, logically speaking.
If we are to believe Lawan’s lawyers, that means Zenon was not guilty of
anything and Otedola had no reason to bribe anybody. It also means
collecting the $620,000 booty was unnecessary since there was no case
against Zenon in any form. I would therefore conclude that Lawan’s
excuse is, at best, tenuous.
A vital question which
we should ask, however, is: who initiated the bribery? Was it that
Otedola called Lawan and said, “Bros, we need to see o!”? Or was it
Lawan that said, “Bros, we need to see o!”? This is key in the whole
scandal even as it has become my-word-against-your-word. If it was
Otedola that made the overture, then it fits perfectly into the theory
that the whole saga was orchestrated to rubbish the probe. If it was
Lawan that initiated it, then it fits perfectly, too, into our opinion
of the National Assembly as a place where there is no genuine oversight
going on. It would seem all these probes are designed for the purpose of
extortion.
Whatever the case may
be, Otedola has murdered sleep. The Nigerian elite class has a way of
protecting itself; it never exposes itself to public “ridicule”. It’s a
close-knit family, no matter the ethnic, religious and partisan
differences. Issues of this nature are usually treated as a “family
affair”. As the mafia mantra states, injury to one member of the family
is injury to all. House members are seething with fury. They will get
back at him. For as long as Otedola continues to do business with the
state, they will be waiting for him somewhere someday. Already, we can
see the hostility of the House members towards him. But that is none of
my business.
The real issue for the
rest of us—the victims of the large-scale, shameless corruption in
Nigeria—is: for how long are the elites going to hold us hostage? The
issue, to me, is not who demanded bribe or who gave it. It is about the
unending plundering of our resources and the unending cover-up. It
happens almost every day. This is not the first nor will it be the last
scandal in the corridors of power. We, the people, are the losers
ultimately. These guys know where they meet, pop champagne and play
golf. They will soon sort themselves out—leaving the rest of us high and
dry… always.
