The name Farouk Muhammad Lawan rings a bell to many Nigerians, especially those who have followed the activities of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2015.
Lawan, 55, first came to political limelight in 1999 when, as a 37 year-old, he contested for a seat in the House to represent Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency of Kano State under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He served in the House for 16 years but had to leave in 2015, following his first electoral defeat since 1999 in the hands of a political rival.
Following his departure from the House, a place he served as a ‘landlord’ of a sort, Farouk Lawan is hardly seen in the public and not many Nigerians hear about him, except for the court case he attends intermittently.
Although he appears to have gone underground since he left the House in 2015, Lawan is said to be trying seriously to bounce back and contest for the same seat come 2019.
A former close colleague of the Kano lawmaker said from the look of things, Lawan has all it takes to clinch the seat once again due to his popularity back home.
The source said Lawan’s constituents like him, and that they would wish to have him back.
“He’s working underground to join the House once more, that I can tell you, because I know all that has been going on. For me, I believe he can succeed when you look at the fact that people may not do SAK (vote APC in all elections) in 2019.
“But I still foresee a situation where the Buhari factor can play a role. Anything can happen because I know Farouk Lawan is loved by his people,” the former colleague said.
Another militating factor, the former colleague said, could be his choice of remaining in the PDP.
But can he succeed in his bid to re-launch himself after a political hiatus and considering the scandal that has been dangling over his head?
A graduate of Bayero University, Kano, Lawan was a registrar of the Kano State Polytechnic until he won election in 1999. He spent the period 1999 to 2003 in learning the rudiments of legislative work, and he soon established himself as a force to reckon with, legislatively speaking.
Thus, when the 2003 general elections came, Farouk Lawan sought the consent of his constituents and once again contested. He won the seat easily.
Having established himself as a meticulous and hard working lawmaker, Lawan was made the chairman of the House Committee on Finance by the then speaker and now Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari.
Always on white brocade and speaking softly and gently, Lawan steered the affairs of the finance committee of the House diligently that he concluded his tenure then without controversy in 2007.
Again, Farouk Lawan won a re-election to represent his federal constituency in the 2007 general elections. By this time, he had become so powerful that he was among the ‘king makers’ in the House then.
He played a crucial role in the emergence of Mrs Patricia Etteh as speaker. He nominated her for the position of speaker, which was seconded by then Rep Ita Enang, from Akwa Ibom State. Enang went on to become a senator.
As a matter of fact, he was so much at the forefront of Etteh’s bid to become speaker that he was seen as someone who could easily influence the allocation of ‘juicy committees’ to close allies in the House.
Sources familiar with the politics that took place then told our correspondent that Lawan, having served as finance committee chairman, had positioned himself to become the chairman of appropriation committee under Etteh. However, that was not to be.
In late 2007, when a financial scandal broke around Etteh, Lawan had already fallen apart with the former speaker, in a clear showcase of the political maxim: there’s no permanent friend in politics but permanent interest.
He then led the Integrity Group, which was hellbent on ensuring that the first and only female speaker of the House was removed. She was compelled to resign in the end.
Following Etteh’s resignation, it was time to install another speaker, and Lawan with his like-minds wasted no time in cajoling the then 37-year old Dimeji Bankole to fill the vacuum.
After a successful third term in the House in 2011, once again, Lawan, who had, by that thime, become a ‘red neck’ in the House, went ahead to win election a fourth time. Soon after, he played another key role in the emergence of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, now Sokoto State governor, as speaker.
He was then appointed as the chairman of the House Committee on Education. Though pint-sized, those familiar with his operations said the fear of Lawan was the beginning of wisdom by the heads of agencies his committee oversighted, largely due to his no-nonsense posture.
He commanded serious respect from his colleagues then, and each time he spoke either on the floor or during any other legislative engagement, other lawmakers listened with rapt attention.
All along from 1999 to mid 2012, Lawan had what could be described by Nigerian standard as an impeccable record in the House.
However, he got into trouble in 2012, following the confidence reposed in him by Tambuwal who appointed him as chairman of the ad-hoc panel to probe the fuel subsidy payments to some oil marketers.
The setting up of the panel followed nationwide outcry as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, which led to fuel price increase.
Lawan’s panel’s report was made public in April, 2012, revealing a huge scam where Nigerian oil coys were said to be receiving billions of naira for fuel subsidy even where they never supplied the commodity.
It later emerged that Lawan allegedly collected about $500,000 from one of Nigeria’s oil magnets, Femi Otedola, the owner of Zenon Oil, which Lawan allegedly sought for ‘bribe’ to exonerate from any wrongdoing in the subsidy scam.
In the panel’s initial report, Zenon was said to have owed more than $1 million to the government, but members later voted to remove the company from the final report.
Lawan denied any wrongdoing, saying he collected the money in order to expose blackmail and informed the committee and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) about it.
He was been arrested for the alleged crime and is currently facing charges over the matter. He, from time-to-time, visits the court as his case continues.
Since the scandal broke out, Lawan has maintained a very low profile, unlike what he was known for. Up until 2015 when he left the Green Chamber, he seldom contributed to debates on the floor of the House.
Until the period that the former Kano lawmaker was enmeshed in scandal, his political profile had risen to the extent that he was said to be in a good position to contest for Kano State governorship.
During the 2015 general elections, Lawan was squarely defeated by a little-known person, Sule Aliyu Romo, who clinched the seat for Bagwai/Shanono, denying Lawan the opportunity to go back to the House for a fifth time.
Lawan polled 18,864 votes, against his successor, who until his victory was the secretary of Bagwai Local Government Council. Romo scored 48,548 votes in the election.
It is yet to be confirmed if the ex-lawmaker will take the opportunity of the 2019 elections to step back into limelight.
