Japheth Omojuwa: The interest above Nigeria’s interest (YNaija FrontPage)

He had a chance to stay a hero and he chose the path of zero. Hon. Farouk Lawan has compromised the veracity of the fuel subsidy probe…

I respected Hon. Farouk Lawan a lot. He always looked composed and in control. When I had the chance to meet him just after Occupy Nigeria, he was really humble, sounded quite intelligent and obviously understood the task before him with respect to the fuel subsidy probe panel. Meeting him with two other friends of mine over dinner, there was really no need to emphasize the reason why we arranged the dinner because the man was saying all the right things. He invited us to his committee’s sessions which we took turns to attend. Everything looked in place. Despite talks and whispers of deals going on post the committee’s public hearing, I kept faith.

When the fuel subsidy probe report became available, I was one of the few outside of the committee members to have it. I soon made the soft copy available on my blog. By itself it generated some 1.5 million hits. Most people hailed the report and Farouk Lawan had become a hero out of the shadows of the fuel subsidy scam. I did say I’d stand by him until his guilt was proven beyond doubt. I did. He has not been convicted by any law court but he has been convicted by my own loyalty. Note that my loyalty was not to the man but to his ability to defy the norm by providing a historic document that’d help clean the nation’s petroleum sector. When I heard him say he had collected the said money from Femi Otedola, every other thing he said only went to my mind – so I could write about it – but my heart had been closed to his reasons and excuses. A man in his situation had no business having any business whatsoever with Femi Otedola. At that point, he had lost me. I really wish him well. 

 He had a chance to stay a hero and he chose the path of zero. Hon. Farouk Lawan has compromised the veracity of the fuel subsidy probe because then questions must be asked about whether there were no shakedowns before now.

I wish it did not come to this. The fuel subsidy report wallowed in the heat of many national distractions, while all the time, those indicted by it were scheming on how to make it irrelevant.

.Whatever the arguments may be, the fuel subsidy probe report does not have the same convincing power as it did when Hon. Farouk Lawan was hailed everywhere he went because of what they were able to achieve with the report. I once asked a question in one of my columns; can a bribee take a bribe and not do the bidding of the briber? Well, asking that Synopsis Enterprises Ltd. And Zenon Petroleum and Gas be removed from the report during the adoption process showed that the said money did have some effect. Farouk Lawan should apologise to Nigerians. He failed them. He knows it too.

Corruption is coasting home again. Nigerians, given the opportunity​y to serve a larger interest again preferred parochial interests. From all the reports, one thing stays clear; the PDP played a huge role in the beginning of the fuel subsidy scam, it played another major role in helping to stall on the implementation of the probe panel’s recommendations and finally the party did its job by handing Mr. Femi Otedola the gun and the bullet with which Farouk Lawan naively pulled the trigger on the fuel subsidy probe report. Is it dead? I don’t know but if the interest of Aso Rock is anything to go by, you can just say RIP to the report.

While we all cry over this N96 million scandal, some N2 trillion of our national income are getting even more settled in the coffers of brigands who again are having the upper hand over the national interest. Whatever happens next, only the mazy plot of Nigeria’s polity can determine that. This is what will not happen; the national interest will never be above PDP’s interest because both interests are mutually exclusive and the PDP has the nation by its balls. Goodluck to you Nigeria, may you survive the curse of corruption.

This is @omojuwa

Editor’s note: Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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