Onwuka Nzeshi
15 November 2008
Abuja — Two of the five lawmakers named in the alleged plot to destabilise the House of Representatives using the allegations of fraud in the car purchase controversy yesterday denied having anything to do with the said plot.
The legislators namely Hon. Gbenga Oduwaiye and Hon. Festus Adegoke, in separate reactions to Thursday's testimony by one Comrade Umar Farouk, said they had never met anyone by that name and could not have held meetings with him as alleged at the sitting of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges. Both men have threatened to institute a legal action against the said Farouk to prove their innocence and redeem their reputations.
The double denial came on the heels of the testimony by the Central Bank of Nigeria that payments for the controversial purchase of 380 Peugeot 407 cars by the National Assembly was done through the apex bank. This contradicts the earlier testimony by a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo that payments to Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) during the transactions was facilitated through Zenith Bank cheques.
CBN Deputy Director Banking Services, Mr. Romanus Okafor who appeared before the committee yesterday said the apex bank issued three cheques namely a N700 million cheque (No- 00001770); N230million cheque (No- 00001805) and a N585.6million cheque (No- 0001832) for the three tranches of payment to PAN in respect of the cars.
Oduwaiye, at a media chat said in recent weeks there had been a string of attempts to cast aspersions on his personality with a view to portraying him "as a spoiler and a desperado who is bent on bringing some people down."
He however said he was neither aware of such plot nor was he part of it. He said the smear campaign on him began with the allegation by a colleague legislator that he made some utterances that tended to undermine the integrity of the House on a television programme, then the distribution of leaflets by a certain faceless group called, Coalition for Stable Democracy alleging that he was part of a group of men who wanted to force the leadership of the House to quit office.
"The latest one is the one of yesterday (Thursday) when one Comrade Farouk was said to have alleged that some of us have been meeting with him and conspiring to pull the leadership of the House down. As a member of the House of Representatives, I will not delve into the allegations made on the floor of the House since that is already being handled by the Ethics and Privileges Committee. The only thing I will restate is that at no time did I make those statements credited to me. On the second one involving the so-called Coalition for Stable Democracy, I thought it was going to be an opportunity to make somebody a scapegoat and end all these but unfortunately by the time you go through the leaflets circulated by the group there is no phone number, no address, no name and there is just nobody to hold. As far as I am concerned it is just a cowardly act by some people who came and spread some sheets of papers and ran away with their tails between their legs," he said.
Oduwaiye expressed delight that with the appearance of Comrade Farouk on the scene, the puzzle over who was plotting what, why and how, may now be easier to determine. He was however quick to deny ever knowing the self-styled activist who was allegedly recruited by some lawmakers to execute the "Bankole Must Go" project.
"As I speak to you, I do not know whether the so called Comrade Umar Farouk is a man or woman and whether he is tall or short. I do not know anybody by that name and i swear by the Holy Quoran and the Holy Bible that I do not know how Umar farouk looks like. Let me also make it categorically clear that I have not had any meeting with any such person; I have no had any meeting in the office of Honourable Independence Ogunewe; I have never been to Ogunewe's house; I have never been Chida Hotel and the last time I was at Protea Hotel was almost a year ago.
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