Details of what transpired at the hearing of Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House of Representatives probing the Farouk Lawan and Femi Otedola $620,000 bribery saga emerged at the weekend as a member, Ibrahim Bello, spoke on the incident.
Bello claimed that contrary to media reports, Otedola told the panel that he had no knowledge of the video evidence in circulation when he appeared before the committee last week.
Bello, who represents Igabi Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, told journalists in Abuja that despite Otedola’s refusal to respond to questions on allegations of bribery against Lawan, disowned any video of his alleged exchange of money and discussion with Lawan, the suspended chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Management.
Bello said: “He (Otedola) said that he did not give anybody any video of him giving Lawan bribe. He denied that. All he said was that he did not give anybody any video.”
He, however, insisted that the committee was on the right track in insisting that the hearing with Otedola be held in camera.
According to him, “we had this interactive session with Otedola last week and we insisted that he cannot decide how we do our job.
“When we asked him about the video-clip, Otedola told us to summon the media houses and ask them how they got it. He categorically denied the video-clip and said he never discussed anything with anybody. He is in our own record.
“ All Otedola said at the meeting was that Farouk Lawan lied four times and that’s all. What I am saying is on record and we have it. Nobody can come and bend our rules. We don’t have any business with Otedola. I asked Otedola before the chairman of the panel, who told him not to talk with us nor answer our questions? Apparently unknown to him, he was only a witness before us and we told him categorically that we have about 10 lawyers in the Ethics and Privileges Committee.
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