There are sneaky plans to link the Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal with the bribery scandal involving chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on subsidy regime Rep Farouk Lawan with the aim of removing him from office, sources at the national assembly and the executive arm of government have said.Rep Farouk who represents Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State in the House of Representatives is currently enmeshed in a scandal following the confession of the chairman of Zenon oil and Gas Femi Otedola that he paid him the sum of $500,000 as bribe in a sting operation involving security operatives. Farouk has admitted taking the money, but that he briefed the police thereafter.Daily Trust sources said yesterday that the plot to rope in Tambuwal may have begun when the State Security Service (SSS) invited him to its headquarters in Abuja to 'share ideas' over the bribe allegations even before it found its way to the public.On arrival at the SSS office, the Speaker was said to have been shown the much talked about video revealing the purported scene where Farouk took money from oil mogul, Otedola. A high level source at the National Assembly said the SSS requested the speaker to collect the $500,000 bribe money in question from Farouk and bring it to them, a request he turned down immediately.'The Speaker spontaneously became suspicious and rejected the request because as a lawyer, he knew the implication of that action; it could be used as an exhibit. So since he was not part of any deal, why would he be involved in it at that stage'' the sources queried.When Tambuwal rejected the first request, the approach was changed; 'he was now asked to send one of his aides with the money. But again he refused.'The source said Tambuwal's encounter with security operatives may not be unconnected with the attempt to create a wider spectrum upon which the Speaker could be 'innocently' trapped.According to the source, the plan against Tambuwal is unveiling rapidly, and being monitored closely. He said a former member of the House of Representatives from the South East is believed to be behind a group of lawyers who kick-started a fresh effort early this week, calling on the Speaker to resign his appointment to allow for investigation of the matter.The former lawmaker is said to be very close to Oronto Doglas who is Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Research and Strategy.Early this week, the group of lawyers under the aegis of Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL) said in a statement signed by its President, Abdul Mahmud, and General Secretary, Kelvin Okoro, that information available to them suggested that Speaker Tambuwal was informed of the activities of the Ad hoc committee chairman, Farouk Lawan, one week before the report was released.'It is also in the public domain that Aminu Tambuwal confronted Farouk Lawan with the video clip of his criminal misdemeanour,' the group said. 'Lawan is reported to have owned up, partly to a certain sum and not the bribe sums in full. However, further revelations have forced Lawan's hands and he has since accepted receiving the sum of five hundred thousand dollars from Femi Otedola.'The statement which was carried by an online publisher on Tuesday also read: 'Farouk Lawan is merely the face, disgraced by the outcome of his own perfidious adventure, of an orchestrated network of members who work the committee system to intimidate and harass sections of our polity for bribes...The committee system fits into the culture of settlement and patronage promoted by the leadership of the House.'Reacting to the lawyers' statement, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said he suspected complicity on the part of the Presidency in the current move to remove the House leadership by sponsoring 'some faceless groups to call for the resignation of the Speaker.'He pointed accusing fingers at both the 'executive arm of government and some fuel importers who were never comfortable with the way the present leadership of the House of Representatives conducts its legislative business.'The statement from CISLAC argued that 'an offence allegedly committed by an individual member (Farouk Lawan) should not be used as an excuse to create another crisis in the House of Representatives.''And if indeed those agitating for the use of an individual's alleged misdeed to oust the present set of leadership of the House are sincere, they should as well call for the resignation of President Goodluck Jonathan for overseeing a regime in which trillions of naira was siphoned in various scams, including the N1.7 trillion subsidy fraud,' the statement said.According to the NGO, the move is aimed at achieving a two-fold agenda of discarding the recommendations of the fuel subsidy probe committee as well as removing the leadership of the lower chamber, 'which the executive had considered independent and assertive'.Meanwhile the House of Representatives will hold an emergency session by 10am tomorrow to discuss the bribery allegations levelled against members of the House committee on fuel subsidy probe, and top sources in the House said the ad hoc committee on subsidy led by Farouk Lawan will be sacked.The House had proceeded on one week recess on June 6th and was billed to resume June 18th, 2012. Daily Trust heard that the body of Principal officers had held a three hours marathon meeting at the residence of Speaker Tambuwal where they discussed the allegations against Rep. Lawan and his colleagues on the ad hoc committee on subsidy probe by the oil mogul, Femi Otedola.
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