NO CHEERS FOR FAROUK LAWAN AT 55
Silence troubles Farouk Lawan. It haunts him and twists his mind’s best strings into strains of discord and a non-melodic chime. The lawmaker is heartbroken by the impregnable silence that trailed his 55th birthday. In the silence, he senses a ghost of impressions of his true worth. Today, Hon. Farouk Muhammad Lawan may be mistaken for a pitiable former legislator. This is because there is probably no lawmaker that has suffered severe criticisms and persistent vilifications as much as he since the $620,000 bribery scandal between him and billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, blew open. Farouk has been humbled. He has moved from renown to insignificance. By now, he must have understood that power and acclaim are as transient as a prodigal brat’s fortune. Before the scandal, Farouk who was first elected in 1999 into the House of Representatives paraded himself as the nearest thing beyond a tin-god so much so that friends, political associates and even his colleagues worshipped the ground upon which he walked, albeit reluctantly. Some weeks ago, he clocked 55. But he didn’t celebrate it. Many of his colleagues and friends who would have placed congratulatory messages in the newspapers and thrown high octane shindigs in his honour dumped him like a bad habit. Reason: the diminutive lawmaker has been brought down from his Olympian height to the hard ground where he is being perceived as no more than a common bribe-taker. Farouk would have bragged before the bribe scandal that his 55th birthday would rock the high society to its foundation. But he has eaten the humble pie. Not even a parlour party would do for him. He has been deserted by friends who used to see him from a puritanical prism. Sad indeed for Mr. Integrity.