The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics came under further scrutiny, yesterday, after oil magnate, Mr Femi Otedola, accused one of its members of lying in his account of Otedola’s controversial appearance before the committee last Tuesday.
Responding
to published comments where Rep. Ibrahim Bello, a member of the
committee was quoted as saying that Otedola told the committee that he
did not have the video recording of his transaction with Rep. Farouk
Lawan, Otedola affirmed that he never told the committee anything as
such.
Otedola had in the past insisted that he is
in possession of audio and video recording of Lawan negotiating and
collecting the bribe money.
The misrepresentation, he said,
was another reason why the Ethics Committee must be prevailed upon to
hold its investigations into the scam in public.
Responding
to the comments by Bello, Otedola speaking through his lawyer, Babajide
Koku, SAN said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state
categorically that the statement credited to Hon. Ibrahim Bello is
entirely false and calculated to misrepresent and misinform the public
as to what transpired during the closed door hearing held by the House
Committee on July 3, 2012.”
“We wish to state
further, that there are video and audio recordings corroborating our
client’s account of what transpired between him and Hon. Farouk Lawan.
“It
is pertinent to emphasise that our client at no time during the
proceedings of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges denied the
authenticity of the audio recordings broadcast by the media but only
stated that he was not the one that gave the audio recordings to the
media houses.”
“This further gives credence to
our clients believe that it is in the interest of truth and justice that
any hearing into the allegation of bribery against Hon. Farouk Lawan
must be held in public and in an unbiased and transparent manner.”
Comments
Post a Comment