Let the earth open up so that I can be consumed! This poser aptly and perhaps curiously captured the mood of Farouk Lawan alias Mr Integrity, last Tuesday, when he was found guilty of corruption.
Yes, the Federal Capital Territory High Court presided by Justice Angela Otaluka convicted Lawan, a four-time member of the House of Representatives, slamming seven years imprisonment term as well as directing him to return $500, 000 to the coffers of the Federal Government.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), had in 2012, preferred a three-count charge bordering on corruption against the former lawmaker.
And so did the former Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency lawmaker, looking forlorn and crestfallen in his caftan attire, headed for Kuje, Abuja Correctional Centre.
Farouk Lawan’s sensational journey to his newfound home, at least, for now, did not occur overnight. It was not a happenstance. It was a tortuous journey that started some 10 years ago, when oil mogul, Femi Otedola, accused the Kano born politician of demanding $3 million gratification so as to absolve his firm, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, from an oil deal charge. In fact, Odetola reportedly offered Lawan, who headed an ad hoc committee to investigate corruption in the fuel subsidy regime, $620,000 in cash as a down payment.
The bribe was to enable the former lawmaker to doctor a report by his committee to exclude Odetola’s company from the list of firms found to have defrauded the Federal Government of billions of naira. Tell that to the marines seemed to be the immediate response of Lawal when caught in the spy trap. According to him, he accepted the money in order to expose the oil magnate before the anti-graft agencies.
Initially, for many Nigerians, the oil billionaire was merely out to rubbish the honourable appellation attached to Lawan’s name.
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Of course, that the citizens held that view was not surprising. Farouk Lawan had before then been acknowledged to be a stickler for integrity and an apostle of excellence. In fact, apart from being a vocal voice in the house then, he was known to have championed many lofty causes.
For instance, his integrity appellation took root from his avowed stance that then-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs Patricia Etteh, should relinquish her position owing to her involvement in fraud.
Recall that during the late-2007 corruption scandal that caused the former speaker of the House to resign, Lawan led the Integrity Group, an alliance of Representatives opposed to Etteh.
He was also instrumental in other national controversies and issues having headed the Information, Finance as well as the Education committees of the House on different occasions.
The Peoples Democratic Party stalwart, who graduated from the Bayero University, Kano, was equally in the forefront, kicking against all the subterranean moves by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo-led executive to influence the leadership and activities of the House between 1999 and 2009.
Strangely, all these lofty credentials came crashing last week. For the FCT court superintended by Justice Otaluka, the diminutive but vocal politician has a case to answer. Little wonder the court upheld all the three-count charge bearing on corruption preferred against the former lawmaker by the ICPC in 2012.
Hitherto, Lawan had approached an Abuja High Court which ruled that he had a case to answer. Not satisfied, the former lawmaker later took the case to the Court of Appeal, which also dismissed his appeal.
Apart from these judicial perspectives, other intrigues came to the fore while the scandal broke out. For instance, it was gathered then that some revered members of the House, as well as prominent Northerner eggheads, had intensified pressure to offer him a soft landing so as to let him off the hook.
Besides police investigations, the Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House, similarly, instituted an inquiry, which until his conviction last week has yet to be made public.
Although the 59-year-old vibrant politician still has a right to contest the judgement of the FCT court, he would for now be cooling off at the Correctional Centre, thinking aloud how he has fallen from the Olympic heights down to the land of scorn.
