Farouk/Otedola Bribery Video to be shown on national TV

THE messy bribery scandal involving a member of  the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, and owner of Zenon Oil and Gas Limited, Femi Otedola, took an interesting twist on Monday.

First, The PUNCH learnt early yesterday that the bribery video might be aired on national television anytime soon. Our correspodents gathered that six video tapes and 16 audio tapes were likely to be made available to major television networks in the coming days. However, our correspondents could not confirm if the tapes were to be released by the State Security Service or one of the parties to the dispute.

Also on Monday, one of the audio clips of the‘transaction was played by a Lagos-based independent Channels Television.

The tape,which ran for about two minutes, contained a conversation believed to be between Otedola and Lawan.

In the tape,  a voice believed to be Otedola’s was heard discussing the venue, where the bribe money would be given to Lawan.  The audio clip apparently indicated the duo was already in the middle of a conversation before the tape started rolling. It also indicated that one ‘TJ’ perhaps served as a go-between  for the bribe giver and the bribe taker.

From the conversation too, it could be deduced that the first instalment of the $620,000 allegedly paid Lawan by Otedola was delivered at an airport though the name of the airport remained unknown.

It was also not clear who released the audio clip to the television station.

Reacting in Abuja on Monday, Lawan denounced the audio tape recording, adding that it was manipulated.

PunchNews