The main prosecution witness, Femi Otedola, in the trial of a
former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, on Wednesday testified
before a High Court in Abuja.
Otedola, the founder of Zenon Oil, was
allegedly pressured by Lawan to part with a $3 million bribe while the latter
was chairing a subcommittee investigating a multi-billion dollar fraud
associated with government fuel subsidy during the administration of former President
Goodluck Jonathan.
Lawan was re-arraigned in December 2016 by the
Nigerian Government for the alleged offence.
On Wednesday, Otedola entered the witness box after
he was introduced by the prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo.
Shortly later, the prosecution played a video where
Lawan was seen receiving $500 000 from Otedola.
The witness then addressed the court on the events
narrated in the video, following questions from Awomolo.
According to Otedola, the accused had indicted his
company in the alleged fraud and demanded $3 million to exonerate him.
The witness added that after the initial deposit of
$500,000 was paid into his account, Lawan declared Zenon Oil and Gas free of
the initial indictment.
“After the early hours of April 24, 2012 (the time the money was paid),
he left and removed the name of Zenon Oil from the list of indicted companies,”
Otedola said while explaining the events that prompted his alleged payment of
$500,000 to Lawan in April 2012.
When asked by the prosecution counsel about the
claim by Lawan that the witness forced him to take the money, Otedola denied
it.
“I could not have put pressure on him because Zenon
Oil was not involved in the theft of the subsidy fund.
“He did demand it. And if he did not demand, why
will he collect and expect a balance of $2.5 million? He mentioned to me that
the $3 million will be shared by himself and some other members of the House.
“Moreover, the company in question was not involved
in the importation of petrol and as such, never applied to withdraw from the
petroleum fund,” Otedola said.
The witness also denied an allegation by Lawan that
he (Otedola) offered to pay the money so that his name would be removed from
the list of indicted companies.
Otedola said: “I did not offer any $3 million
because I was one of the biggest players in the business. And I reported the
matter initially when I found out about the scam. And he mentioned to me that
several companies that were involved in the scam were paying, so I reported to
the SSS.”
He also denied a claim by Lawan that Zenon Oil and
Gas was exonerated on the basis of documents later provided by the company.
“It was the money because during the course of the
sitting of the subcommittee, we had submitted all the documents,” he said.
Otedola said his report to security operatives on
the matter prompted investigations into the allegations by the police who
invited him for questioning after which his statement was taken.
The defence was unable to cross-examine the witness
after a lawyer from Mike Ozekhome’s chambers requested for an adjournment to enable
his principal attend the next trial and conduct the cross-examination.
The lawyer said he was sick and could not proceed
with the cross-examination at the day’s sitting.
The judge, Justice Angela Otaluka, adjourned the
matter to January 28 for cross-examination.
The judge added that the defence should prepare
itself to start and finish the cross-examination on the next adjourned date.
Mr Lawan was first arraigned in February 2013 along
with another accused, Boniface Emenalo, for allegedly receiving $620,000 bribe
from Otedola and his company.
The case was then handled by Adebukola Banjoko also
of the same FCT High Court.
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