A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Lamorde, has gone back to school even though there is an order for his arrest by the Senate.
The immediate past chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, will begin a course for senior police officers at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, near Jos, on Friday, Premium Times reports.
Mr. Lamorde’s procession to the policy formation centre for bureaucrats in Plateau State is coming amidst an order for his arrest by the Nigerian Senate.
Speaking to Premium Times, a source who didn't want to be named said: “Mr. Lamorde is still a serving top police officer so it’s unclear who is going to effect the arrest order by the Senate. It was the police hierarchy that sent him to NIPSS.
“What we are saying is, he was invited as head of EFCC, not as Mr. Lamorde, to answer questions on how the agency had spent its money. Now he’s no longer there, and the EFCC is a continuum. The current boss should be the one to be invited,” the source said.
It will be recalled that the Senate on Thursday issued a warrant for Mr. Lamorde’s arrest for repeatedly failing to appear before its committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions.
The committee, chaired by Samuel Anyanwu (APC – Imo East), investigating Mr. Lamorde for alleged corruption, had requested for the arrest warrant. But the former EFCC boss responded through his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, asking the Nigeria Police to disregard the Senate’s order for his arrest.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Mr. Keyamo said the police and other law enforcement agencies should resist the invitation to drag themselves into “this illegal scheme.”
“We most respectfully urge the Nigeria Police Force to await the outcome of the matter pending in court before deciding one way or the other about the enforcement of the said Warrant of Arrest, if eventually issued,” his lawyer said in the statement.
“If the court decides otherwise against our position, our client is prepared to appear before the Senate or any of its Committees.”
Mr. Lamorde, a commissioner, was removed as EFCC chairman in November last year, four years after he took over as head of the anti-graft agency.
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