Kanyi Okeke
FaroukGate: Details of the Video.
Lawan visited Otedola’s house on three different occasions over the
bribe issue. On each occasion, he drove himself in a C class Mercedes
Benz. Five video recordings, lasting an average of eight to 10 minutes
each were made on each of those visits. According to a source in the security services, on the first visit, he
had lunch with Otedola where the amount to be paid was negotiated and
eventually agreed on.
“In the video, Lawan was clearly seen stuffing wads of dollar bills
into his pocket, when his pocket was full, to the utter shock of all
those who have seen the damning video, he removed his cap and concealed
the remaining wads of dollar bills inside it and replaced the cap on his
head.
On his second visit, which was around 11
pm, he collected the first tranche of $250,000 and during the third
visit when he came around 5.05 am, he collected the second tranche of
$250,000. He was dressed in green buba and sokoto with a cap to match.
Later in the day at the plenary session after he had collected the
second tranche, he got the House to clear Zenon as one of the companies
that bought foreign exchange but did not import petroleum products.
“Nigerians will reel with laughter if they ever get to
watch this video. It is on the one hand hilarious and on the other,
shameful,” a source said.
Further investigations revealed that
Lawan’s resort to stuffing the money in his pockets and cap was done to
avoid arousing suspicion from Otedola’s domestic help who would have
seen him entering the house empty handed and coming out carrying a
bulging envelope.
However, unknown to him, a surveillance video camera carefully installed by the SSS was recording all his actions.
