LAMORDE AND THE SENATE
The Senate should play by the rules
The Senate last week began investigations into the weighty allegations brought against Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Mr George Uboh, a security consultant, had in a petition accused Lamorde of fraudulently diverting over N1 trillion recovered from those convicted of corruption. Uboh specifically mentioned instances of underremittance and non-disclosure of proceeds recovered from criminal suspects including former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and ex-Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
The petitioner alleged that Lamorde conspired with some EFFC officers and external auditors “to operate and conceal a recovery account in the Central Bank of Nigeria and excluded the balances from audited financial statements between 2005 and 2011”. The said fraud, according to Uboh, was committed between 2007 and 2008 when Lamorde was the director of operations of the EFFC as well as in the period he was acting chairman of the commission when the then chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was away for a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
Lamorde has dismissed the charges as a smear campaign by Uboh who is being prosecuted by the EFCC for allegedly stealing government property. This showed that the case “should not be taken seriously”, Lamorde said. Given the timing of the petition, the manner in which it became a subject of investigation in the Senate and all the issues around it, there are grounds to suggest that some people may actually be working to muddle the waters in the efforts to tackle corruption in Nigeria.
Whatever may be the weight of the allegations, it is also a fact that the petition contains a germ of something very troubling. The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions started investigations last week into the allegations but the Senate itself is divided over the issue because of the manner the petition was routed and the haste with which the public hearing was being conducted.
Indeed, members of the “Unity Forum” within the Senate said the investigation was illegal and a breach of the Senate standing rules, arguing that there was no record indicating that Uboh’s petition was presented to the Senate in a plenary. “In a standard parliamentary practice, a petition is routed through either a Senator or a member of the House of Representatives,” said the group in a statement. “Upon receipt of such petition, the representative will inform the presiding officer of the chamber and thereafter, present the petition in a plenary. Upon presentation in plenary, the presiding officer will invite the Senator/ Representative to lay the same petition on the table in the chamber, which automatically becomes a public document.” Even many members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate were opposed to the petition.
Given the foregoing, some pertinent questions are inevitable: Why is due process being sidetracked? Why couldn’t Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, chairman of the Senate adhoc committee, follow the rules as laid down? Why is it so urgent that the Senate, in the words Dino Melaye, chair of the Senate Committee on information, would “adopt any format it deemed fit?” Why did they smuggle in such vital document at a time the Senate was supposed to be on recess?
The non-adherence to due process and the hurried manner the petition was admitted raise serious questions about the motive of the sponsors. Indeed, the action is openly being interpreted as a preemptive strike by the Senate leadership to combat and intimidate the anti-graft body in its reinvigorated war against corruption. Such interpretation, true or false, does so much damage to the Senate in the current crusade against corruption and in the general efforts to rebuild our nation.
WHY IS DUE PROCESS BEING SIDETRACKED? WHY DID THEY SMUGGLE IN SUCH A VITAL DOCUMENT AT A TIME THE SENATE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON RECESS?