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Senate moves to issue arrest warrant on Lamorde

By Azimazi Momoh Jimoh and Segun Olaniyi (Abuja) and Joseph Onyekwere (Lagos)
26 February 2016   |   6:15 am
It’s legislative rascality, says EFCC ex-boss FOR allegedly failing to honour invitations over alleged diversion of N1 trillion recovered loots, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is to issue a warrant of arrest on former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde. The Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led committee informed…
Lamorde

Lamorde

It’s legislative rascality, says EFCC ex-boss
FOR allegedly failing to honour invitations over alleged diversion of N1 trillion recovered loots, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is to issue a warrant of arrest on former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde.

The Senator Samuel Anyanwu-led committee informed the Senate that Lamorde had refused to honour three different invitations extended to him in an alleged move to evade investigation.

It said: “The committee, having waited in vain for the appearance of Larmode since 24th November 2015 and not see or hear from him, was forced to conclude that Lamorde wants to evade investigation.
“Consequently, the committee reasoned that the only way to get Lamorde to appear before it was to invoke the powers of the Senate in section 89 (1c & d) of the 1999 Constitution to compel his attendance. The committee is convinced that unless this line of action is taken, the National Assembly might be drawn into consequential disrepute in the future.‎”

The Senate said the committee should invoke its powers guaranteed in section 88 and 89 of the constitution to issue the arrest warrant.

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said the committee did not need any permission from the Senate to issue the arrest warrant.

Ekweremadu’s clarification which was sustained by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was based on sections 88 (1) and 89 (1) of the 1999 Constitution said to have given ample powers to the panel to issue a warrant of arrest‎. “What is required here is for the committee to issue a warrant of arrest and then the President of the Senate will direct the Police to effect the arrest. It is not the business of the Senate during the plenary to do so, otherwise, we will be offending this part of the constitution. The issue of warrant of arrest is not something that we will take a resolution on, the resolution has already been taken by the committee,” Ekweremadu explained.

Meanwhile, Lamorde has described the planned arrest warrant as legislative rascality.

The former EFCC boss, who spoke in a statement yesterday through his counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said the rule of the Senate is that matters before the courts are not deliberated upon.

He therefore called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase to ignore the call to arrest his client and wait for the outcome of its case against the Senate in court.

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