Yusuf Alli
Barring last-minute change of mind, the House of Representatives will this week suspend its member who allegedly collected $620,000 from an oil baron to influence the report of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime.
The House leadership has shown the video clip of the bribe saga to the Representative, who reportedly collected the crash at 4am.
The member, who initially denied collecting the bribe, was shocked to watch himself in the video which security agencies made available to the House leadership, it was learnt yesterday.
But the plot by some forces in government to use the scandal to remove Speaker Aminu Tambuwal has backfired as members have resolved to stand by him, having been satisfied that the leadership was not involved in the scandal.
The Nation learnt that after the scandal broke, the House leadership summoned the concerned Representative to hear his own side of the story.
The Representative stood his ground that he did not collect any bribe from the oil magnate as alleged.
Following his insistence, the House leadership decided to play the video tape of how the deal was struck and how money exchanged hands.
A source in the House said: “You need to get the records straight. The bribe was actually collected at about 4am in the oil baron’s home in Maitama. The Representative had fixed an appointment for 1am but he got to the place at 4am in a white kaftan. He got $500,000 that early hour of the day.
“Later, the committee’s secretary returned to the oil magnate’s house at about 7.30pm to collect $120,000, which was later handed over to the Representative.
“The airport connection came a few days later when the Representative asked for the balance of the agreed $3million. The oil magnate said they should meet at the airport in Abuja because he won’t be able to carry such a huge sum to his house.
“At the appointed time, the Representative offered to send a third party to the airport but the oil baron rejected the arrangement. Security agents had laid siege to the House member’s residence to track his movement to the airport but he stayed indoors that day.”
Asked how the deal came about, the source added: “What happened was that the oil baron approached security agents; who made the marked notes and pen camera available to record the bribery saga.
“Before the bribe deal became public knowledge, the Speaker was shown the video clip by security agencies.”
A House source also gave account of how the leadership has been managing the crisis in the last few weeks.
He said when the Representative was adamant, the leadership showed him the tape on how he got the bribe - as made available by relevant security agencies.
“He was dumbfounded that he was recorded by the oil baron. It was at that point that he told the House leadership that he was merely playing along with the oil baron,” the source said, adding:
“But members queried why he refused to alert the House leadership if he was playing along and why he kept the cash for 60 days and only made it available when the scandal burst.”
The source also claimed that the leadership rejected moves by the Representative to lay the money on the table before the House went on recess.
A principal officer said: “When he brought the money in a Ghana-Must-Go bag to lay it on the table, we all resisted it because the allegation is more of an individual challenge than the entire House.
“The Speaker and House leadership insisted that it would not allow the chamber to be returned to an era of laying bribe money on the floor without evidence to prove it.
“The member in question has been asked to go and defend the allegation against him instead of dragging the House into it.”
The House leadership has decided to suspend the Representative to underscore its commitment to probity.
Yet another House source said: “We have reached a conclusion to suspend the member when we resume. This will enable him to clear his name on the allegation against him.
“He will also use the period of the suspension to attend to security agencies and legal issues that might arise from this bribery allegation.”
Meanwhile, a fresh plot to unseat the Speaker as a result of the bribery allegation has failed.
Members of the House have decided to stand by the Speaker, having discovered that he was not in any way connected to the bribery.
An influential member of the House said: “When the scandal was uncovered, most members took turns to challenge the Speaker on what he knew about it but he said he was never in the picture.
“We also conducted independent investigation and we realised that the Speaker and the entire House leadership are above board. You know, Tambuwal is a contented person.
“So, when some forces in government attempted to capitalise on this latest bribe saga to get at the Speaker and his team, we decided to stand by him.
“The truth is that we will resist any move to remove the Speaker over this allegation. We are building a consensus on this. The real target is the Speaker but those plotting missed the point as they did not know that the alleged bribe-taker is not a member of the inner caucus.
“Actually, having known the antecedents of the Representative, the Speaker had kept him at arm’s length but he has been treating him equally with others.
“The same Representative was closer to a former Speaker of the House, Alhaji Aminu Masari, but he was one of those who blew the alleged certificate scam against the ex-Speaker.
“This Representative has always been associating with those in government; he does not belong to the inner caucus or think-tank of the Speaker. So, those thinking that they could use this to deal with the Speaker have failed.”
Some forces said to be against the affected Representative chose to set him up as a result of the fall-out of the election of the Speaker for the 7th House of Representatives last year, it was learnt.
The Representative was allegedly engaged by some forces in government to mobilise members against the election of Tambuwal as the Speaker.
It was gathered that while the embattled Representative was given N200million by some anti-Tambuwal forces in government, his co-coordinator got N100million.
But the bribed lawmaker reneged on the assignment and voted for Tambuwal without returning the N200million.
A source said: “This is a pay-back time for him from some forces in government. The man who collected N100million to mobilise House members against Tambuwal declared it but this Representative facing the heat never declared his own share of N200million.
“In fact, after voting for Tambuwal, he openly slighted a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Dem."
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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