Tell Magazine

The bribery scandal rocking the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee on the management of the oil subsidy underscores the systemic corruption in the National Assembly since 1999

“When I look at some people that shout ‘Corruption! Corruption!’ I shake my head.”

– President Goodluck Jonathan

When TELL interviewed President Goodluck Jonathan earlier in the year, he summed up the hypocritical attitude of highly placed Nigerians, especially politically exposed persons, PEPs, to the war against corruption in these memorable and philosophical words.  With the sordid revelations coming in the corruption face-off between Femi Otedola, a businessman, and Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee on the management of fuel subsidy, how prophetic the President’s remark has now turned out to be.  The President was talking about the difference between appearance and reality, about men and women who pretend to be champions of integrity and good governance while deep down they live a life of corruption. The current Lawangate, which has seemingly put the final nail on the coffin of integrity of the National Assembly, NASS, further emphasises this.

At the time Jonathan made the statement, hitherto highly esteemed Lawan and his fellow ‘honourables’ had taken the nation by storm with their foray into what was seen as the greatest fraud industry in the country. Then the House of   Representatives had latched onto the spontaneous popular resistance to the total removal of subsidy from petrol and became advocate of the masses by immediately setting up the committee, chaired by Lawan, to audit the management of oil subsidy in the country. It was the belief of Nigerians that the secret of the country spending over N2.1 trillion in subsidy payments in 2011 was corruption.

All hope was then on the Lawan committee to unravel the subsidy jigsaw puzzle. Even Jonathan expressed hope that the committee could come up with a solution to help the government solve the problem. “That is what the National Assembly is trying to find out; I don’t want to pre-empt them.... So for now, I cannot make any statement when something is being probed. But finally when we get the report, we will investigate if, in NNPC, they record a particular volume and in CBN you have something different.  Then we will find out, between NNPC, Ministry of Finance and CBN, what has happened.” That was the burden of trust and hope that Lawan and his committee bore.

It was not for nothing that everybody had confidence and heaped hope on Lawan. Since 1999, he has been in the House of Representatives and managed to build what appeared like a solid reputation. Born July 1962, he had master’s and bachelor’s degrees in English Language. He was a committed teacher and seen as an educationist, a radical and a reformer. Expectedly, he was the chairman of the House Committee on Education, a member of Appropriation, Inter-parliamentary relations and Justice committees. His core legislative interests were appropriation, information and education. Lawan flowered into a controversial national icon in 2007 during the then speaker, Patricia Etteh’s, corruption scandal when he floated the House advocacy group known as Integrity Group which forced her out of the exalted office.

Lawan’s fledging political status was further boosted by his electoral capital. When All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, routed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Kano, it was only Lawan, out of the 24 federal constituencies that were re-elected, that did not defect to ANPP. He was rated a probable candidate for the governorship ticket of Kano State some day.

Against this background, when the time came to find an ‘incorruptible’ representative who would shun all overtures of government and big oil marketers to head the oil subsidy, Lawan was the obvious choice. Traditionally, the probe should have been chaired by the chairman of the committee on petroleum or somebody who has enough knowledge of the oil and gas industry, but the House leadership appeared not to have confidence on anyone else. Yet nobody protested because Lawan appeared to be the last man standing in, not just the House of Representatives, but the whole National Assembly. He was the classic Caesar’s wife who was above suspicion. The public shared the same view. That was the weight of burden Lawan carried on his slim frame. He was aware of that responsibility.

When TELL interviewed him during the probe, he appeared true to the expectations of the people, his colleagues and even the Presidency. And he acted the part, or so it appeared. He assured Nigerians that it would never be business as usual again. “Let me say that the assignment given to us is a huge challenge because of the general public expectations. When the House met on January 8, it did because of the tension arising from the total withdrawal of subsidy from petrol by the government on the first of January. So the House was actually responding to the public pressure and that was what led to the establishment of my committee. We knew that the public would be interested in whatever we do because the subsidy issue has become topical. When we began this work, we felt that we were handling a very heavy burden, a burden because of the expectations of the people, a burden because we were given the responsibility to investigate a sector that has remained opaque and non-transparent for several years. A sector that people believe has not been managed in an open manner.... And I believe that so far we have succeeded because in the course of the public hearing, a lot of issues have come to the public domain, and I believe it will never be business as usual in that sector ever again.” That was Lawan’s assurance to the Nigerian public.

Spurning the thought he could become a billionaire if he wanted to compromise the oil subsidy probe, Lawan affirmed: “I don’t know about becoming a billionaire… to make an honest billion I believe you have to start a business. Of course, the other way to make that kind of money is to compromise. We decided from the onset that we will not compromise on this matter and that the interest of Nigeria is greater than whatever pecuniary interest anybody would have.  I want to assure you that I got the total cooperation of all my colleagues in this ad hoc committee and that was why we were able to do what we did. There is no way you invite and put somebody on national television and begin to ask very scrutinising questions; sometimes you put some on the spot, if you had already compromised. Our desire was to do the right thing; Nigerians deserve better life. Questions have been raised, we need to find answers.”

Were there pressures and how did he react to overtures? Hear Lawan: “We have had cases where people had attempted to reach us as to pressurise us to go one way or the other. That manifested itself in the first few days of the public hearing. But they realised that we are not ready to bow to any pressure; that we are not ready to be diverted, most of it fizzled out.”  Or so it appeared.

Now Nigerians know better. The sordid revelations of serial compromise in the Lawan-Otedola scandal have kept the country on tiptoe for the past one week. To some people, it is one man’s word against the other. However, what is not in doubt is that at least $600,000 is the subject of controversy. The giver admitted that he gave it and the receiver claimed to have taken it for the sake of evidence. Between Otedola and Lawan, who should Nigerians believe?

Similarly, there are many questions begging for answers. There are too many loose ends to be tied for the public to know the truth. Who initiated the so-called ‘sting’ operation? Did Otedola offer the bribe or was it Lawan who asked for it? Did Lawan accept the bribe or did he ‘collect’ exhibit to prove the committee was being induced? If he only wanted evidence of financial pressure, why collect the $600,000 in three instalments of $250,000, $250,000 and $100,000? Couldn’t one tranche be exhibit enough to prove his case? And having taken the bribe, why did he wait until the giver blew the whistle before talking about it? If Otedola was a guinea pig for a State Security Service, SSS, sting operation, why is he the one canvassing evidence and volunteering statement to the police? Why did the SSS not spring an arrest at the point of commission of the crime to prove it was a sting operation, and not a survival strategy after a deal had gone awry?

On the part of Lawan, he had indeed eaten sour grapes and the NASS’s teeth are on edge. If he is to be believed that he is innocent, his alibi appears very clumsy indeed. He was the one who visited Otedola, not just once but four times; it is not on record that the oil marketer visited him even once. What was he doing in an oil marketer’s house, a possible suspect in the subsidy probe? Why did he go to Otedola for an idea on how the oil industry works when he could have employed competent consultants? Knowing he was fishing where angels fear to tread, as it were, why did he fall for such ancient trick if he really was not interested in the offer? Why did he not go to the SSS? If the letters circulating are to be believed that he reported to the police, why did the police not accompany him to pick up the money in a covert operation and keep custody of the money as evidence? Is Mohammed Abubakar, the acting inspector general of police, just trying to save a brother or was he really into the deal? After picking the money, why did Lawan insist on keeping the ‘exhibit’ even after the police had requested for it?

TELL’s investigation strongly suggests that the video recording is real. Some security sources confirmed to the magazine that the evidence is real.  The magazine did not find any evidence that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was part of the operation. Neither was the anti-graft agency briefed by Lawan or the leadership of the House that the committee was gathering ‘evidence’ to shore up its subsidy probe report. Some lawmakers say that Lawan insists that his image in the video of the transaction is a ‘caricature’, yet he admitted that he collected the money from Otedola. So he would need to convince Nigerians that the dollars are also ‘caricature’.

Otedola insists, and it appears rightly so, that his companies do not import fuel, that they are into the importation of diesel and there is no subsidy on diesel. The copy of the subsidy report that TELL has shows that Otedola’s companies were initially indicted for infractions in the subsidy saga. They were later, after ‘clarification’, cleared through a motion on the floor of the House of Representatives. This strongly supports the claim that money may have secured the clearance.  It also strongly suggests that some companies may have been let off the hook at a fee.

Be this as it may, the widespread view is that the report still has its strong points which may be blurred by the uproar against the committee’s indiscretion. For instance, the committee established clearly the round-tripping perfected by some oil marketers to defraud the government. It was established that the amount paid for subsidy galloped to over N2 trillion in 2011. It was established that portfolio companies without any storage or distribution infrastructure at all were paid subsidy for products not supplied. It was established that Nigeria’s daily consumption of premium motor spirit, PMS, is about 35 million litres daily. The different agencies of government agreed that 59 million litres daily was imported in 2011. Meanwhile, Nigeria has no storage capacity for the balance of 24 million litres daily excess capacity. This appears to be the margin of corruption. There were clear revelations by some foreign shipping lines that Nigerian importers forced them to discharge their cargo offshore when the ship could sail into Nigeria in order to deceive the authorities and make more money.

The fall of Lawan and the capitulation of his committee are a metaphor for tragedy of the whole NASS from 1999 to the present Seventh Assembly. Seen as the bastion of democracy, the NASS has been the Achilles’ heel of democracy since 1999, wobbling from one sleaze to another and underscoring the instability in the system. There has been a systemic pattern of corruption in both houses of the NASS since 1999. The subsidy probe was the last chance for the NASS to reinvent itself as a credible organ of democracy but it blew the opportunity.

Since 1999, the modus operandi of both houses of the NASS has predicated on serial extortion of money from ministers, heads of departments, agencies and company executives whose organisations have the misfortune of being investigated by the NASS. For ministers and heads of parastatals to be cleared by the Senate, they are expected to ‘perform’. Those who perform are given a pat on the back while the stubborn ones who refuse to ‘perform’ are drilled till they start sweating in the air-conditioned chambers.

Nasir el-Rufai, minister of Federal Capital Territory under President Olusegun Obasanjo, was the first minister to blow the lid on the systemic corruption in the NASS. He said he was approached by two principal officers of the Red Chamber to part with N54 million to be cleared by the Senate. He named Ibrahim Mantu, then deputy Senate president, and Jonathan Zwingina, then deputy Senate leader, as those who made the demand. He was later forced to apologise as a ‘political solution’.

The Adolphus Wabara-led Senate was dogged by a N55 million bribe for budget scandal involving Fabian Osuji, a former minister of education. It was a joint project between the education committees of both houses of the NASS. Though the case was thrown out at the appeal court on technicalities, they never really established their innocence.

Ministers and heads of parastatals have consistently cried out that the NASS extort money from them to pass their budget. The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, got one of the smallest budgetary allocations during the time of Justice Emmanuel Ayoola despite presenting perfect documents. In one year, they requested for improved budgetary provision to expand operations. The NASS turned down their request and rather provided for them to buy more computers, which had no impact on their operational needs then. Other ministries, department and agencies, MDAs, that understand their body language have their budgetary allocations increased rather than being reduced.

The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, ran into stormy waters last year when the NASS in the exercise of their oversight functions indicted the agency for allegedly not remitting its internally generated revenue to the Federation Account as provided for by the constitution. It was revealed that what was in contest was offshore grant from global integrity agencies meant for inspection of facilities outside the country which needed a lot of independence to ensure the integrity of the exercise. It was alleged that some lawmakers wanted the money shared but were turned down.

A history of sleaze runs through the NASS since 1999. Salisu Buhari, first speaker of House of Representatives in 1999 was removed over certificate scandal. Evan(s) Enwerem, his Senate counterpart, was also removed after a running controversy about his academic claims. Chuba Okadigbo lost his job as Senate president for contract scandal and anticipatory approvals.

Etteh was pushed off the chair on alleged N628 million contract scam. Lawan’s Integrity Group forced her to resign.  The Idoko panel, which investigated Etteh, reported that she did not follow due process in the award of contracts, which she denied vehemently.

TELL noted then that “the entire disagreement in the House was not in any way altruistic. Both groups at the centre of the controversy are purely doing so for their own selfish ends.”  The magazine saw through Lawan’s facade of ‘integrity’ in an emblematic character sketch – “Farouk Lawan, who heads the so-called Integrity Group, which is leading the campaign against Etteh, was a staunch supporter of former speaker, Ghali Na’Abba, who spent over £4,000 of taxpayers’ money to fly his uncle abroad for treatment during his tenure. Where was the propriety in that action? What hell did he raise then? Today, his ‘dogged’ fight against Etteh is simply because of his reported failure to get the chairmanship of the Finance and Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives.”

The Ndudi Elumelu-led power probe N100 million bribe scandal further exposed the motive behind oversight functions in the NASS. While playing to the gallery in the day, at night they exacted pressure on the contractors to part with money.  While Nigerians thought something radical would come out from a probe, it ended up in an anti-climax, like the Lawan case. In the case of the power probe, even members of the committee refused to sign the report. Consequently, the report was never considered by the House. The committee even came out with a list of companies that got power contracts and were not registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission. One of those companies was Marubeni, a company that has been doing business in Nigeria for over 30 years. As it turned out, the companies were registered but did not dance to the tune of the power probe committee.

The same House committee on power and its counterpart in the Senate were later implicated in a N5.2 billion contract scam at the Rural Electrification Agency. Nicholas Ugbane, chairman of Senate committee on power and Elumelu, his House counterpart, were arraigned with others on 158 count charges in an Abuja high court.

The recent stock market probe equally underscored the rot in the NASS. Herman Hembe and some of his committee members have been arraigned by the EFCC on corruption charges. The committee persuaded Arunma Oteh, the director-general, DG, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, now on suspension, to approve a grant of N39 million for the committee’s public hearing on the problems of the capital market. By the self-accounting rules of the NASS, money is provided for all committee activities. The bubble burst when Hembe allegedly asked for N5 million of the money to be paid in cash to him and Oteh refused.

Similarly, for MDAs recruitment, members of appropriate committee of the NASS insist on getting ‘slots’. Consequently, one now needs a written endorsement from either a senator, or a representative, or both to get a job in the MDAs. There appears to be no vacancy for hapless Nigerians without access to their representatives.

The lawmakers also go after juicy contracts in the MDAs with a lot of viciousness, including blackmail. If they do not get it, the minister, DG or executive secretary is in deep trouble. Recently, the NASS shot down on spurious reasons what the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, considered a well designed new licensing system. It is strongly alleged that the real reason for their action was because a principal officer of the NASS was angry that his son failed to get the contract.

The constituency project is a major avenue for corruption in both houses of the NASS. Under this abused practice, lawmakers include projects to be done in their constituencies in the budget year to bring governance closer to the grassroots. Though on the surface, the contracts are supposedly awarded by the relevant ministries, the lawmakers nominate the contractors who are actually their fronts. In most instances, they take so much of the contract money that the contractor’s ability to execute the contract is hampered. Some buy motorcycles, exercise books, host birthday parties and chieftaincy installations as constituency projects and pocket the rest of the money.

Apart from constituency allowance, lawmakers claim huge sums of money quarterly as ‘running cost’, which runs into millions. For the Senate it comes to about N58 million per senator and for the House it is about N45 million. Comparatively, members of Nigeria’s NASS are the highest earning legislators in the world. But despite these huge earnings, they still extort money from hapless prospects. The Petroleum Industry Bill could not be passed by the NASS because of an alleged heavy lobbying by the multi-national oil companies who understand how to manipulate the itching palms of NASS members. Today, the NASS has become a basket case. And many people feel that Lawan’s case is nothing new after all.

Little wonder that Jonathan shakes his head when “some people shout, ‘Corruption! Corruption!’”

National Assembly’s history of scandals

This list is by no means exhaustive