Tashikalmah Hallah and Francis Okeke
14 November 2008
A Northern Nigeria based civil rights group leader, Comrade Umar Farouk yesterday told the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges investigating the alleged fraud in the purchase of 380 units of Peugeot 407 cars that a member, Rep Independence Ogun-ewe (PDP, Imo State) offered to pay him N1 million to organize press conferences and printing of leaflets with an intent to shape people's opinion against the House.
But Ogunewe, when contacted on telephone, said he was not in Abuja and could not respond to issues raised on the telephone. He said, "I want to see the person I'm talking to. Currently, I am not in Abuja but will be in Abuja tomorrow. You can meet me in the office so that we can talk". Comrade Farouk in his testimony said Ogunewe had given him N200, 000 as part payment with a promise to provide additional money after he had discharged his responsibility, which included organizing a rally at the National Assembly complex to prevent Bankole from presiding over the House as well as syndicated press conferences.
He alleged that Ogunewe told him that his task was to complement what the Lagos lawyer Festus Keyamo had started and that Farouk "should name his price".
According to him, Speaker Bankole had stepped on toes and also undermined their "interests," adding that Bankole was "frivolous in spending public funds on indiscriminate overseas trips and over bloated contracts."
Farouk said a mutual friend had linked him up with the former Committee chairman on Aviation, and he declared his willingness to fight for Dimeji Bankole's ouster as the Speaker. He however said he became suspicious when Ogunewe allegedly told him to name his price.
"I'm not a cash and carry person. We were discussing a lot. Yes, he was giving me the assurances that there would be logistic and material support, that we cannot exhaust the resources voted for this project. And I am at liberty to guess that is part of the resources he got because I saw some new cars that he bought. I saw a brand new Range Rover Jeep.
I saw the car, and he was giving me assurances that there would be financial support whatsoever because they were in touch, and he made mention that there is a Governor sponsoring it and other forces". Farouk said that documents given to him by Rep Ogunewe in company of other Members of the House of Representatives were on the face of it genuine, but he said the Members shook his confidence when they told him to name his price, which made him to believe that the documents were manufactured.
Other Members he mentioned to the Committee included Gbenga Oduwaiye, former Committee chairman on Appropriation, Festus Adegoke, Kayode Amusan, and one Honourable Sam-son. However, Farouk refused to mention the name of the said Governor, saying Ogun-ewe had not told him who the governor was.
However, he said "On the 4th November, 2008, I and Hon Ogunewe met at his Apo residence at about 1015hrs. I presented to him a copy of the anti-Bankole leaflets that he supported financially. He responded that the figures are far more than the amount I published. He demanded that I should correct the anomalies and jerk up the figures so that the general public can scream by merely hearing about the scandal."
"On the evening of 4th November 2008, we met in his office where I recognized the presence of some journalist facilitating stories for his group in the Media. He complained about the operations of the SSS in monitoring our meetings and said that henceforth his office was no longer going to be used for any of the meetings." Ogunewe was said to have personally contacted Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) as well as other civil society and human rights groups in the country in the pursuit of the agenda.
The Committee, headed by Alhaji Saleh Minjibir with Yakubu Dogara, Halims Agoda, Nnena Ukeje and other members, also posed several questions to Farouk to ascertain his claims.
Farouk, after taking his Muslim oath, also presented a digital tape recorder where he recorded conversations between Ogunewe and himself at the latter's Apo Legislative quarters, Abuja. He added that a press conference was held at an undisclosed hotel in Kaduna but could not ascertain whether the story was publicized or not.
According to him, the meetings between the parties were held in Transcorp Hilton Hotel swimming pool, Maitama; Protea Hotel, Asok-oro; Chida Hotel, Jabi-Utako District; and Ogun-ewe's residence in Maitama exten-sion. Farouk, who said his involvement was done in error, also said another meeting was held in Ogunewe's office in Room 2.15 New Building of the National Assembly complex.
According to him, three other anti-corruption groups involved in the campaign are Transparency international, Northern Coalition for Democracy and Push for Africa.
Meanwhile, a management team of Zenith Bank led by John Olorundare, head of compliance, yesterday said the National Assembly has no account with them but has two related accounts belonging to the National Assembly Clinics and the National Assembly Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP).
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Excuses, excuses. Similar to the same old excuse - "the goat eats my homework." Who cares where Farouk is from - he could be from the South-south, for all I care. This is not a smear issue. This is an issue of immorality and un-ethical behavior. Can one imagine how many hospitals and primary schools that could be built with princely amount of almost 7 Billion Naira these Rogues allocated for their own personal comfort? In a country where primary school kids are carrying their own desks and chairs on their heads to/from school every day and in a country… [Read Full Text]