CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday, met in Abuja for several hours, with top officials of the commission, in what one source said might be the first in the series of his valedictory meetings.
In attendance at the meeting held at the Abuja office of the EFCC were the commission’s directors and the secretary.
They were said to have discussed extensively the events of the last few days on the exit of Mallam Ribadu from the EFCC on account of his nomination for the nine-month senior management course of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
Said one source at the end of the meeting: “In the last one week, the most reported issue in Nigeria is Ribadu leaving EFCC. There is a need to be proactive and keep the institution moving in the interest of the nation.
“We have a mandate to safeguard the nation from any form of fraud and we must not derail from that. We have read in the newspapers that the Director of Operations, Ibrahim Lamorde, has been told to proceed on course too, which is not true because he is not the one,” the source said.
Officials of the commission believe strongly there is a plot by some people to render it ineffective.
Port’s, not EFCC’s Lamorde, for course – Police
The Police who have come under severe criticisms for initiating the removal of Ribadu from EFCC confirmed Vanguard’s report of yesterday that the Lamorde nominated for the NIPSS course is not EFCC’s Ibrahim Lamorde but Titus Lamorde, an Assistant Commissioner of Police attached to the Ports Authority Police Command, Lagos.
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Training, Mr. Ula Ringim, speaking on the matter yesterday said: “The attention of the Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, and indeed, the Nigeria Police Force, has been drawn to publications in some media.
“The claim in the report that ‘the Director of Operations in the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, is to join his boss, Nuhu Ribadu, on a one-year course’ is totally false and represents a figment of the media house imagination. A further report that ‘EFCC is yet to receive Ribadu, Lamorde’s letters from the police’ is a further attestation to the fact that the earlier report is false and unfounded.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian Police wish to make it clear that the ‘E’ Department of the Force Headquarters schedules officers for course on a yearly basis, hence ACP Titus Lamorde attached to Port Authority Police (PAP) in Lagos, is scheduled for the Senior Command Course at the Police Staff College, Jos and not Ibrahim Lamorde of the EFCC as widely reported.”
DIG Ringim used the occasion to announce that 53 Assistant Commissioners of Police, with Titus as number nine on the list, were embarking on the course which will last for eight weeks from January 17 to March 7.
Answering reporters’ questions, Ringim said signal for the senior command course which listed those nominated and approved by the Inspector-General of Plice, Mike Okiro, was released on December 18, 2007 and that it was copied to all Commissioners of Police.
Among the 53 ACPs going for the course are John Chukwu, Anthony Uwakama, Chika A. Maidama, Dan-Mallam Mohammed, Emmanuel Olatunji, Lemu Sanusi Nma, Anthony J. Udom, Karma Hosea Hassan, Fidelis J. Usanga, John Esekaigbe, Agyole Abeh, Damian A. Chukwu, Ogbonlahor Austin Iwero and Iyoha Regina (Mrs.)
Reacting to a questing on why Ribadu claimed he was not aware of the signal scheduling him for the NIPSS course and why he was not informed about that of his Director of Operations, DIG Ringim said: “I do not schedule AIGs for courses, So I can’t say anything about Ribadu. I am responsible for organising training of all officers from the rank of ASPs to Deputy Commissioners of Police. Lamorde is an ACP and I can schedule him for course. But as far as Lamorde of EFCC is concerned, we have not sent him on course.”
Reps won’t interfere with executive decision on EFCC – Nafada
However, the Senate said yesterday it would review the laws establishing the EFCC, while the House of Representatives said it had no intention of interfering with the Executive’s handling of the situation at the commission.
In an interview in Abuja, Deputy Speaker of the House of Rep resentatives, Alhaji Usman Nafada said: “We were doing our own in the National Assembly. We were trying to probe the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and other Principal Officers, trying to remove the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and the President always said that the National Assembly is autonomous.
So he left the National Assembly alone to determine its problems without intervention from anybody from the Executive and the issue of removing or leaving Nuhu Ribadu as Chairman of EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) is solely the responsibility of the Presidency. And let me say that I leave that one for the Presidency since he left our own for us to solve by ourselves.
“EFCC is a body. EFCC is a statutory body. It is not a Nuhu Ribadu’s body. If Nuhu Ribadu is not there today, EFCC would not close their cases. It would continue to exist. It is just like the National Assembly. Even now that Etteh is not here, the House of Representatives is moving on. So, Nuhu Ribadu is not EFCC, but he was made the Chairman of the EFCC and even if he is out as Chairman of EFCC, somebody will be acting as Chairman of EFCC”.
Senate to amend EFCC Act
At a separate briefing in Abuja, Senate Leader, Alhaji Taslim Folarin, also said the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu would chair the Constitution Review Committee to be inaugurated shortly after the resumption of the National Assembly from the yuletide break.
Senator Folarin said the Senate would soon amend the act establishing the anti-graft agency but he refused to give details of the proposed amendment.
While lauding the performance of Ribadu in office, he warned that the office must not be personalized stressing that the nation should rather strengthen the institutions of Government rather than lifting one man above all others.
“There may be a need to look at the (EFCC) Act again. But for reasons best known to you I wouldn’t want to go into that now,” he said.
“I don’t think it (office) should be personalized. Nuhu Ribadu has done very well; there is no doubt about it. I have a lot of respect for him; the National Assembly has a lot of respect for him. But rather than talk about individuals, I think we should strengthen our institutions.”
On plans for the review of the Constitution, he said:
“Once we resume a committee would be set up again by the Deputy President of the Senate and we would consult with stakeholders. We would go right across the length and breath of the Country and look at the issues that the people want,” Folarin said.
He said that previous efforts at Constitution amendment failed because of the quantum of amendments proposed. He said the coming process would be limited to few sections of the Constitution.
On areas he personally would want amended, he said:
“I think areas of immunity; I think we need to do something about it to move this country forward. If we are serious about the fight against corruption. I think the issue of State and local government creation has to be addressed there is a case of imbalance in the system.”