Femi goes to court: Otedola sues Lawan, Tambuwal for N250 billion damages

by Staff Writer

As the investigations over the $620,000 bribery fiasco involving Farouk Lawan and oil magnate, Femi Otedola tries to gain some traction after being stonewalled by many of the parties involved, Otedola has moved on, trying to get financial restitution, in the amount of N250 billion.

For intimidating and costing him good will and patronage, the Chairman of Zenon Oil is suing Lawan, as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and the House Clerk.

 In the meantime, Lawan is demanding to facedown his accuser in person, asking the Inspector General of Police that both parties involved in the bribery scandal be allowed to face each other.

The Punch  newspaper reports that “Listed as defendants in the suit number FCT /3839/2012 and filed on June 28, 2012 at the Abuja High Court, are Lawan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; the National Assembly and its Clerk.”

The Punch continues:

In his statement of claim, Otedola states, “Notwithstanding the on-going Police investigations and the first defendant’s admission of receiving money from the second plaintiff, the second and fourth defendants conspired to relist the name of the first plaintiff to the list of indicted companies, to embarrass the plaintiffs and their corporate and business image.

“The plaintiffs shall contend at trial that the conspiracy by the second and fourth defendants (Tambuwal and the National Assembly respectively) to re-list the name of the first plaintiff on the list of companies indicted by the ad-hoc committee is without basis given that the committee’s finding was arrived at without proper verification of documents submitted by the plaintiffs to aid their enquiry.”

He states further, “In the course of carrying out his assignment, the first defendant (Lawan) as head of the ad hoc committee set up by the second and third defendants contacted the second plaintiff (Otedola) and informed him that the first plaintiff ( Zenon) was going to be indicted by the ad hoc committee for purchasing foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria without importing petroleum products unless the plaintiff parted with a bribe of $3m.

“The first defendant continued to make harassing phone calls to the second plaintiff calculated at intimidating the plaintiffs to meet the unlawful demand of the first defendant for bribe

“The second plaintiff faced with the first defendant’s unrelenting barrage of intimidating calls became distressed and contacted the security agencies to report the first defendant’s conduct

“The plaintiffs were advised by the security agencies to play along and hand over marked notes to the first defendant and his cohorts for the purpose of gathering evidence of their nefarious activities.”

In the purported sting operation, Otedola states that out of the $620,000 bribe, $500,000 was taken personally by Lawan on April 24, and that $120,000 was handed over to the clerk of the committee, Boniface Emenalo.

He also says that he would produce “all call logs and audio-visual records of conversation and/or meetings” held with Lawan to prove his case.

He states, “On April 24, 2012, the sum of $500,00 was handed over to the first defendant by the second plaintiff.

“At the request of the first defendant, a further sum of $120, 000 was handed over to Boniface Emenalo by the second defendant.

“On the morning of the April 24, 2012, the first defendant persisted in making intimidating phone calls to the plaintiffs harassing them to pay up the balance of $2.380m.

“As a result of the distress caused to the plaintiffs by the first defendant’s persistent calls, the plaintiffs reported the matter to the police which invited the first defendant and the plaintiffs for investigations.”

Otedola, dissatisfied with the reappearance of Zenon on the list of indicted companies, has therefore made the claims against the defendants “jointly and severally”,

“The sum of N100 billion against the defendants as general damages for the acts of intimidation; loss of goodwill and patronage, occasioned by the acts of the defendants; and a separate “sum of N150 billion against the defendants as exemplary damages for their oppressive and arbitrary action.”

He states, “The action and conduct of the defendants were oppressive and arbitrary and thereby also resulting to the plaintiffs suffering substantial loss to their reputation, goodwill and business.”

Otedola and Lawan first became embroiled in a bribery scandal in which Otedola alleged that he was pressed to hand over $620,000 to the legislator, who was overseeing the House’s investigation in to fuel subsidy payments. Lawan on the other hand, has defended himself by first denying, then admitting that he took the bribe, but only to expose the businessman.

Source: Punch

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