The Senate will Wednesday commence the probe of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde over an alleged N1 trillion scam, Chairman Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Samual Anyanwu, has indicated.
In an interview with journalists Tuesday, Anyanwu explained that the PDP leadership in the Senate, namely: the Minority Leader, Senator Godwill Akpabio; Deputy Minority Leader, Senator Philip Aduda; Minority Whip, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha and Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, confused his committee’s invitation to Lamorde to an earlier one moved on the floor of the Senate in the form of an amendment to a prayer in a motion which failed.
According to him, Lamorde’s scheduled appearance before his committee on Wednesday along with the man, who accused him of being involved in N1 trillion scam, is a fall out of a petition to that effect which falls within the ambit of his committee.
He said “As the Chairman Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, I am answerable to the Senate in the first instance. Two, this Committee attends to every petition that come from the public and the invitation to the EFCC boss is one of those petitions and the petitioner is going to appear before the Committee.
“If you look at the press statement by the Senate Minority Leader and by extension, PDP leader, Senator Akpabio; it was a misinformation. This is so because he is wrongly linking Lamorde and other invitation to what happened on the floor of the Senate weeks ago when an attempted amendment of a prayer in motion, where the CBN Governor (Mr. Godwin Emefiele) was to be invited with the EFCC boss regarding money laundering and all that, but rejected. So, their statement was clearly based on misinformation.
“This is a standing committee of the Senate. It is not only EFCC boss that was invited. There are other petitions, which we have invited the petitioners and those petitioned against.
“We have FIRS, Comptroller General of Customs that are also coming tomorrow (Wednesday). So, I don’t know why this should be an issue. We are guided by the Senate Standing Rule and the 1999 Constitution to invite anybody when the matter arises.”
When asked what next in case the embattled EFCC boss refuses to honour the invitation, he said: “I cannot conclude that now because I don’t want to pre-empt anything for now”.
When confronted with the perception in some quarters that the move against Lamorde by the Committee is vindictive, he said “there are many ways the Senate can operate, at the plenary, committee and the constituency. We are on vacation. A committee like Ethics and Privileges, we have a lot of petitions, and now that we are on recess, each member agrees to spend their time to work. And we have to turn in the report of these petitions at the floor of the Senate for the consideration of the entire Senate.
“We have so many petitions, up to 10 petitions. This is the summary of petitions received so far. That of EFCC is one of them and FIRS and so many of them. There is no situation that because we are on recess we cannot sit.
“Two, the issue of invitation of Senate President’s wife has nothing to do with our job. It is not on that basis (motion) that we are inviting the EFCC boss. This Committee is a fact-finding committee. Our job is: every petition that comes to this committee must be treated.
“There is one implication. If somebody says there is a petition against the EFCC boss, the person is a Nigerian. He has the right, and as long as he will come before the Committee to substantiate the petition, we must take it seriously. Because if you don’t take it up, what you will hear is that people will say probably we have been settled; that is why we didn’t bring up the matter. It’s only a mere allegation. We cannot convict anybody; we are not a law court.”
He also discountenanced insinuations of division among the lawmakers concerning the probe.
“There is no divided Senate. It is just a misinformation on the part of the PDP caucus. At least somebody can be misinformed and when you get the accurate information instead of going back to counter, you will keep quiet and join others in doing the right thing,” he explained.
The Committee had on the strength of petition forwarded to it against Lamorde by Mr. George Uboh over an alleged N1trillion scam summoned both the petitioner and Lamorde to appear before it Wednesday through separate letters last Friday.
The fraud allegedly perpetrated by Larmode was said to have dated back to his days as the Director of Operations of the EFCC between 2003 and 2007, as well as an acting Chairman of the commission between June 2007 and May 2008, when the then Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, was away for a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos in Plateau State.
In his petition dated July 31, 2015, Uboh, Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert Security Systems, a security firm, accused Lamorde of some specific instances of under-remittance and non-disclosure of proceeds of corruption recovered from criminal suspects, including a former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, and a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Dipreye Alamieyeseigha.
He assured the Senate that he would produce “overwhelming evidence” to back his claims against Lamorde.
Uboh also alleged that the EFCC had not accounted for “offshore recoveries” and that “over half of the assets seized from suspects are not reflected in EFCC exhibit records”.
However, in a jointly signed statement by all the four PDP principal officers in the Senate Monday, the Senate and in particular, the Committee was admonished to suspend the public hearing for now.
“This is not the appropriate time for such a sensitive assignment, more so, when a similar move to that effect on the floor of the Senate recently failed,” the statement read in part.
In another instance, the media office of the President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki has responded to a publication alleging that the Senate President hired one Uboh to smear the integrity of the EFCC chairman.
The statement signed by the Special Assistant to the Senate President (Online Media), Bamikole Omisore said “it is pertinent and with all sense of responsibility and commitment to state unequivocally that the story is far from the truth; a fabricated story that cannot sell to dent the image of Senator Saraki.”
“The general public is fully aware that the said online platform, which published the false story has been an agent of media attack on the person of the Senate President and that all allegations made by the online platform against the Senate President have fallen flat on their face as bare lies, concocted with malicious intention.
“To set the record straight, nobody can rightfully claim that Senator Saraki engaged the services of the petitioner or any other person for that matter. There are about four different petitions from individuals, groups and corporate organisations written against the EFCC and submitted to the Senate.
“Most of these petitions are dated 27/07/2015 and 31/07/2015 while some bothers on issues between 2013, 2014 and 2015. There are petitions that are directly written and received by the Senate while in some, the petition was written to the President and the Senate were copied.
“Further to the above, EFCC is not the only government agency that has petition against it pending before the before the Senate. There are pending petitions against the CG Customs, FIRS and NPA, amongst others. Is it also Senator Saraki that hired or engaged people to do this? What evidence does Saharareporters have that links Senator Saraki to all these petitions before the Senate?
“The Senate President has no relationship whatsoever with Mr Uboh in any capacity or in the course of his emergence as Senate President. If anybody has any proof of a relationship between Senator Saraki and the said Mr. Uboh, let him or her say it now.
“Our Investigation showed that Uboh’s petition has been in public domain since 2013 and that the details have been reported in national newspapers as well as cited in court proceedings. The Senate President could not have said to have hired any one to write a petition for him as he has no issue to sort out with any individual, group of people or an organisation.
“Therefore, any insinuation that Senator Saraki is attempting to prevent EFCC from carrying out its constitutional responsibility is a hoax and an imagination of the writer.
“Let it be known that the idea of people using the media to intimidate or blackmail the Senate to prevent it from performing its constitutional and legislative duties will be resisted and as such meet stiff opposition expressed through lawful means. Senator Saraki is not the same as the Senate or National Assembly as an institution. Imputing sentiment into the legitimate working of any government institution will not augur well for our development and democratic process.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has corroborated the denial of division among lawmakers and the involvement of the Senate President in the petition.
The Senate said contrary to reports about purported division in the upper chamber, that the Senate remains United and focused in the discharge of its mandate.
It also described as baseless and unfounded allegations that the Lamorde’s invitation by the Senate Committee was masterminded by the Senate President.
Chairman, Senate’s Adhoc Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye in a statement on behalf of the Senate made available to reporters in Abuja, said the allegations were the handiwork of enemies of the 8th Senate.
Melaye said: “The attention of the Senate Adhoc Committee on Media and Publicity has been drawn to media reports to the extent that the Senate is allegedly divided over the invitation of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
“This Office wishes to state categorically that the allegation is false and that it could only have emanated from the imagination of those who do not want the 8th Senate to succeed.
“The Committee also wishes to state that the Senate will not be blackmailed into abandoning its constitutional mandate, which includes but not limited to investigating any issue brought before it.”
He added that for the avoidance of doubt, Order 103 of the Senate Standing Orders specifically states that “In the exercise of the powers conferred on the National Assembly by Section 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Senate shall have power to direct or cause to be directed an investigation into any matter.
“We wish to equally state that attempts to undermine the Senate’s summon on the basis that the petition in question was sent through a senator rather to the Senate is rather begging the question as petitions to the Senate can either be sent to the Senate President directly or through individual Senators for onward presentation to the Senate.
“In this instance, the petitioner, George Uboh, sent his petition through the Senator representing his district, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (Delta North) who in turn delivered it to the Office of the Senate President.
“Moreover, there can be no controversy as to how a communication from members of the public through their representatives should be tendered before the Senate because Order 25(c) of the Senate Standing Orders makes it abundantly clear that he (Senate President) shall receive all communications addressed to the Senate.
“Needless to say that it is a normal parliamentary practice the world over for the Senate President after receiving a communication to forward it to the relevant committee for necessary legislative work, whether the Senate is in session or not.
“Although, the Senate is not in session, it had made it clear that some of its critical committees will continue to carry out their necessary functions without hindrance.
“Furthermore, the Senate wishes to state that allegation that the petitioner was sponsored by the President of Senate is totally false as it is unfounded, satanic, ungodly, callous, myopic and a figment of the imagination of those out to promote division in the Senate.
“It should be noted that there are other petitions calling for the investigation of the Comptroller-General of Customs and Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services. In fact, invitation had been extended to the FIRS boss before the recent leadership in the agency. So, the logical question arising from this is: Is the Senate President also the one who instigated the petition against these agencies and their heads? For what purpose?
“However, these agents of division who are sponsoring stories to undermine the Senate and its leadership shall not succeed because the 8th Senate under the leadership of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki remains united and focused on its commitment to bring about desired change in all aspect of our national life.
“Therefore, it will not be distracted or derailed by baseless allegations which can only find traction in idle minds,” he stated.