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Rep. Oladele Calls Lamorde Investigation A ‘Personal Vendetta’

Kayode Oladele, a member of the House of Representatives and former Chief of Staff to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has cautioned against actions that are capable of making a mockery of the National Assembly and its oversight functions.

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The Representative made the remark today in a statement concerning the planned probe of the chairman of the (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde.

SaharaReporters revealed earlier that the Senate probe has arisen from a petition engineered by Senate President Bukola Saraki to the Upper House by George Uboh, a convicted criminal.  The EFCC has recently begun an investigation of Toyin Saraki, the wife of the embattled Senate President.

Uboh alleged in the sponsored petition that the leadership of the EFCC embezzled more than N1 trillion in assets seized in corruption cases. 

“Ordinarily, there is no law that prevents the chairman of the EFCC from explaining his stewardship to the public through appropriate organs of government,” Representative Oladele said.

“Apart from the fact that the petitioner is a person of questionable character who I understand was jailed in the US over Credit card fraud, judging by the scope of the petition, the Senate ought to have known that Lamorde being the Director of Operations between 2003 and 2007, was not the executive chairman, neither was he secretary to the commission. Therefore, did not possess any executive power relating to the activities of the commission.”

He further noted that under the rules of the Senate and the House, petitions are usually examined at the plenary level, from where they are referred to the appropriate committee for further action.  In that regard, he pointed out that at the time the petition was presented, the NASS was in recess and the Senate did not hold a plenary session. Not forgetting the fact that some senators acting at the behest of the Senate President had tried in the past to present a petition before the plenary and it failed.

Oladele therefore called on the Senate leadership to avoid making a laughing stock of the NASS, describing the probe attempt as a personal vendetta against the EFCC chairman. 

“The EFCC is an institution and efforts should be made to build a strong institution rather than ridicule it,” he said. 

 “In addition, most importantly, the petition exposes the inefficiency of the Senate to conduct its oversight functions over the EFCC. It is the duty of the Senate to request from the commission annual reports, study it, scrutinize and then ask the leadership to clear grey areas in accordance with oversight duties prescribed by section 88 and 89, of the 1999 constitution.”

Stressing that if the Senate leadership needs an outsider to write a petition to remind it of its constitutional duties it stands indicted of dereliction of duties, he urged the EFCC not to lose track of its mandate especially now that Nigeria has a President with the necessary political will to combat graft. 

“Those who seek equity must come with clean hands,” he advised.

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Corruption